Kelly Clarkson joked that she “ruined Christmas” with her “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” reboot

Kelly Clarkson and John Legend tried to do a good thing by covering and tweaking the lyrics to the 1944 Christmas classic “Baby It’s Cold Outside” to make the in-song interaction sound 100% consensual. But some grinches apparently think that Clarkson and Legend outright “ruined” the song by doing so. On the November 19th episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Clarkson sat down with Chrissy Teigen, Legend’s wife, to talk about the outrage surrounding the new version.

“Did you not hear that John and I ruined Christmas recently?” Clarkson asked Teigen. “Oh yeah! You did ruin Christmas!” Teigen joked back.

“I was like, how did I mess that up?” Clarkson said before explaining to the audience how the song came to be.

"[Legend] had this idea, because of the #MeToo movement, they pulled 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' from any radio. Like, a lot of radio stations at Christmas. Well, I love that song." Thus, the pair decided to re-record it so it could play on the radio once more.

Critics of the new song—Sharon Osbourne among them—have expressed their dislike for the alterations Clarkson and Legend made to the original lyrics. Earlier this month, Osbourne argued on The Talk that Legend wouldn’t like it so much if someone changed his lyrics years down the road if they found them offensive, calling the edits “ridiculous.”

The general consensus among The Talk’s hosts was “leave art the way it is.” And, fine, everyone is entitled to an opinion. But then again, they could just…listen to the original version instead of the new one if they preferred.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eClMj_TPSc8

But Clarkson can’t seem to wrap her head around the blowback. “[Sharon] was just on my show,” she told Teigen, who then added, “Sharon assumed that you burned all [the copies of the original song] in the backyard or something, that you can never listen to the original again.”

"We like the original," Clarkson explained, "but we noticed that a lot of people didn't. So we were like, 'Let's just give them another option.' And apparently, we killed Christmas."

The pair then joked about how strange it is for people to defend the original lyrics that were “creepy” and “date-rapey.” Clarkson noted that she isn’t even really offended by the original, however, she simply wanted to put another, less “creepy” version on the table for people to listen to.

“Get over it,” Teigen said to those who are upset with “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” 2.0. “Go off, Sharon,” she added.

Hey, everyone. Just a reminder: You don’t have to listen to a song you don’t like—and that goes both ways. Don’t listen to the original “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” if you’re creeped out by it. Or, don’t listen to Kelly Clarkson and John Legend’s version if you dislike the fact that they messed with the original.

‘Tis the holiday season, after all. Let’s ditch the drama.