“The fact that an off-hand jest I made during a segment about whether Santa should be replaced by a penguin has now become a national firestorm says two things — Race is still an incredibly volatile issue in this country, and Fox News, and yours truly, are big targets for many people.” Megyn Kelly
Megyn Kelly returned to her Fox News show last night and ripped critics of her comments that Jesus Christ and Santa Claus are “verifiably” white.
She said the segment, which brought derisive rebukes from leading liberals and late-night talk show hosts, was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek discussion, but that critics failed to see the humor.
Humor is what we try to bring to this show, but that’s lost on the humorless. This would be funny if it were not so telling about our society, in particular, the knee-jerk instinct by so many to race-bait and to assume the worst in people, especially people employed by the very powerful Fox News Channel.
The controversy came as Kelly and her guests were discussing a piece by Slate writer Aisha Harris entitled “Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore.” Also a tongue-in-cheek piece, Harris said maybe a penguin — with his black and white coat — should replace Santa. That way, children of all races would feel included.
At one point, Kelly addressed any children watching her program:
For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white, but this person is just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa. But Santa is what he is, and just so you know, we’re just debating this because someone wrote about it.
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