It was not, as I understood the news item, anything to do with local government officers. As far as I could tell, it was the Liverpool Phil musicians had decided themselves not to sing the song, after some unspecified complainants had "explained" that the song was about slavery in the cotton plantations of Virginia. Surprisngly specific, geographically, I thought. What is there in the song that localises its story in the cotton fields of Virginia?(I am not an expert on USA agriculture...do they actually have cotton fields in Virginia? I thought that was where they grow Golden Virginia)