'Baby, It's Cold Outside' writer's daughter defends song

The daughter of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" writer Frank Loesser is firing back against critics who are giving the holiday classic a frosty reception this year.

Susan Loesser, 74, spoke to NBC News last week, defending the 1944 song against claims that it normalizes date rape.

"Bill Cosby ruined it for everybody," she said Thursday. "Way before #MeToo, I would hear from time to time people call it a date rape song. I would get annoyed because it's a song my father wrote for him and my mother to sing at parties. But ever since Cosby was accused of drugging women, I hear the date rape thing all the time."

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Her comments came just days after a Cleveland radio station pulled the song from its playlist, saying some of its lyrics now seem inappropriate. Although the roles are occasionally reversed, the duet usually features a woman singing, "Say, what's in this drink?" and, "The answer is no," as a man urges her to stay.

"Absolutely, I get it, but I think it would be good if people looked at the song in the context of the time," Susan Loesser, whose father died nearly 50 years ago, told NBC News.

"People used to say, 'What's in this drink?' as a joke," she continued. "You know, this drink is going straight to my head, so what's in this drink? Back then, it didn't mean you drugged me. ... It was a different time."

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