A ROCK classic penned by one of the North East’s biggest stars is once again being played on radio after a bizarre ban was overturned.

The 1985 Dire Straits hit Money For Nothing, written by North East songwriter Mark Knopfler, was banned from Canadian radio earlier this year.

But after eight months of silence, radio authorities have backtracked over the Grammy award-winning song.

Money for Nothing had been ruled too offensive by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council in January because it contains the word “faggot”.

A radio listener from Newfoundland had complained about the song – some 26 years after it was released.

The listener said the word, used three times in the track, was “extremely offensive” to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

In the song Knopfler sings: “The little faggot with the earring and the make-up. Yeah buddy, that’s his own hair. That little faggot’s got his own jet airplane. That little faggot he’s a millionaire.”