The announcement that Mall of America was welcoming its first black Santa Claus was greeted in many quarters as a good thing but, as might be expected in a country that has become increasingly more comfortable saying any racist thing that comes to mind, many were highly offended.
Three years after Fox's Megyn Kelly definitively explained to America that both Jesus Christ and Santa Claus were white men, Mall of America dismissed her advice and hired Larry Jefferson, a retired U.S. Army veteran from Irving, Texas to spend four days at the mall listening to the wish lists of children of all colors.
According to the editorial editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, comments on black Santa became so offensive the paper shut down their online comments on the article about it.
"Looks like we had to turn comments off on story about Mall of America's first black Santa. Merry Christmas everyone!" Scott Gillespie wrote.
That didn't stop people whose world was rocked by a non-white Santa from finding other venues to rage against the Claus, including Twitter and other comment sections.
As has become all too common when conservatives are offended, a boycott has been called for, with Peter Morgan on CBS Minnesota writing, "Stupid. Incredibly stupid. Santa is WHITE. BOYCOTT Mall of America. Maybe they should change their name to MALL of RAGHEAD LAND."
A sampling below from CBS and Twitter:
On Twitter:
This one sums it up for everyone:
