The Slate blogger whose piece, “Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore,” was trashed by Megyn Kelly responded Thursday with a reality check for the Fox News host.
Aisha Harris’ message to Kelly: “Santa isn’t real.”
The Fox News host went off on Harris’ article Wednesday, insisting it was a “verifiable fact” that Santa was white. Kelly argued if the image of a white Santa made Harris “uncomfortable,” that didn’t mean the image “has to change.”
In her response, Harris agreed with one of Kelly’s panelists who noted that Santa is historically based on a Greek bishop. But as Harris pointed out, “Santa hardly resembles his supposed inspiration, who was depicted as tall and thin and, you know, Greek. He did not have a workshop in the North Pole nor eight faithful reindeer.”
Kelly also equated Santa with Jesus, who she said was “a white man, too.” Harris countered that in general, historians agree Jesus was a Jewish man who grew up in Galilee — so he was “probably not” white.
“I’ll be fine if no one else jumps on board the penguin train and Santa remains a white man,” she concluded. “But if you’re seriously emphatic that he is white and must remain white, there’s a good chance that your view of the rest of the world is just as limited and unimaginative. I mean, we are talking about a magical man who slides down your chimney every Christmas Eve. Just so we’re clear.”
