'Baby It's Cold Outside' ban: Dean Martin's daughter says singer would be going 'insane' over criticism

Several radio stations in the US have banned the song, in which a man urges a woman to stay over at his house

Dean Martin's daughter has defended Baby It's Cold Outside after the song was banned on several radio stations in the US.

Stations in Ohio, Wisconsin, California and Colorado took the Christmas classic off the air, deeming its lyrics offensive.

Baby It's Cold Outside, written in 1944 by Frank Loesser, was featured in the film Neptune's Daughter in 1949 and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The tune's lyrics consist of a dialogue between a man and a woman, as the man strongly urges the woman to stay over at his house despite her insistence that she must go.

Some have deemed the song inappropriate at a time when many have worked to raise awareness about consent and sexual harassment. Others, however, have insisted that the song's lyrics reflect a case of innocent courtship.

Martin's daughter, Deana Martin, is among the latter.

She told Fox & Friends on Monday she was "flabbergasted" when the controversy surrounding the song emerged.

"It's a sweet, flirty, fun holiday song," she added, before telling the TV hosts: "I know my dad would be going insane right now."

The Cleveland, Ohio-based radio station Star 102 announced in late November it would stop playing the song because its lyrics are "very manipulative and wrong".

WHIT-AM, a station based in Madison, Wisconsin, also removed the tune, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

KOIT, based in the Bay Area, took the song off its rotation but has since reinstated it, per ABC 7 News.

Similarly, KOSI in Denver, Colorado, announced earlier this month it was putting the song back on its airwaves after banning the tune, then asking its listeners to weigh in in a poll.