Even as we wrestle with any number of critical debates heading into the 2024 campaign season, there is one lesson to always keep in mind. Cancel culture never sleeps, so you have to keep your eyes on them at all times. The latest example of this nasty trend showed up when Universal Records debuted a new music entertainment platform tailored to younger audiences called Yoto. As our colleague Chris Queen reports at PJ Media, Universal was excited to announce that they would be offering the legendary rock band Queen’s “Greatest Hits” album on the platform. But upon closer inspection, it turned out that something was missing. They had deleted “Fat Bottomed Girls” from the collection, arguably one of the band’s biggest hits of all time. I’m sure you can guess why.

Now the wokescolds are going after classic rock music. It all started when Universal Records added Queen’s “Greatest Hits” album to the library for Yoto, a new entertainment platform aimed at a youth audience.

“Queen’s greatest hits are now available!” crows the Yoto website. Only it’s not true because one of Queen’s biggest smashes is missing. Universal left “Fat Bottomed Girls” off the Greatest Hits album on the Yoto platform.

“Fat Bottomed Girls” is an ode to the women of the title, and it has been a staple of classic rock radio for decades. It’s unmistakably Queen, and it’s a lot of fun to harmonize with.

For those too young to remember or simply unaware, you can read the lyrics to the song here. It’s not exactly incendiary when compared to modern rap and a lot of the other ugly material that passes for music today. Queen guitarist Brian May (who is also an astrophysicist) wrote the song for Freddie Mercury back during the band’s heyday. Freddie reportedly loved it and really enjoyed singing it.

So what is the left finding so offensive about Fat Bottomed Girls in 2023 or Queen’s performance of the iconic tune? Freddy Mercury was gay or at least bisexual, so shouldn’t he be in some sort of protected class now? Wasn’t he an early soldier in the LGBTQ+WHATEVER army? (Allow me to confess that back in the 70s when this song came out and people brought up rumors that Freddie might be gay, I scoffed at them as ridiculous, despite the decision to name the band “Queen.” Of course, my mother also insisted that Liberace was merely “stylish,” so perhaps it ran in my family.)

And particularly today, how is it offensive to proclaim an admiration for women who are a bit more richly endowed in the posterior region? Wouldn’t doing otherwise qualify as “body shaming?” I thought we were supposed to embrace all body types, including the particularly obese, to the point of giving them special seats on airlines.

Honestly, while still perhaps a bit suggestive, this song is just about as close to “harmless” as you can get, particularly given all of the far more incendiary material making the rounds these days. And any children young enough to potentially be confused or impacted by sexually suggestive lyrics likely wouldn’t be able to get any of the references in the tune. Some people clearly don’t seem to be able to be happy unless they are offended by something or silencing someone else’s speech, even if the person in question died of AIDS more than 30 years ago. (Oh, good Lord… has it really been that long?)

Here’s Freddie belting out the song live in concert in 1982, with a flair and style that set the world on fire. So put on your headphones and crank up the volume before YouTube gets any more ideas and pulls it. We miss you, Freddie.