The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a happy holiday story yesterday — after 24 years, the Mall of America’s paid Santa Experience will feature longtime Santa Larry Jefferson, an Army veteran from Texas, for four days. Jefferson will become the mall’s first black Santa.
The newspaper’s editorial staff apparently decided that some of the paper’s online readers couldn’t handle it, as editorial page editor Scott Gillespie announced via Twitter:
Looks like we had to turn comments off on story about Mall of America’s first black Santa. Merry Christmas everyone!https://t.co/BQVm24DH6y
— Scott Gillespie (@stribgillespie) December 2, 2016
Reporter Liz Sawyer, in an email to Madison365, says, “we routinely turn (comments) off on articles involving racial issues.” But, she also says, “Santa Larry was super awesome and I’m glad he’s there for the kids.”
Also in an e-mail to Madison365, Star Tribune digital editor Terry Sauers confirms that comments were never allowed on this story.
“We often turn comments off on stories that are racially sensitive in nature,” he writes. “We do it when the stories are originally posted. Looking at the Facebook comments on this story is indicative with what we have experienced in the past on our site.”
The link to the story on the Star Tribune’s Facebook page has just over 300 comments, most of which seem to be positive. Some express the sentiment that this shouldn’t be news because race doesn’t matter, while others note that Saint Nicholas, upon whom Santa Claus is based, was Turkish.
Unlike Facebook, the Star Tribune website allows people making comments to remain anonymous, possibly emboldening some to espouse views they wouldn’t attach their real names to.
And while it may be not the worst idea not to open the floodgates to the black-Santa-haters of the alt-right, it’s also unfortunate that the words “Santa” and “racially sensitive” have to exist side by side.
