Some on the Left this Christmas season are branding the family classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” as bigoted.
The television special, which first aired in 1964, is exceptionally popular and continues to air to this day.
However, HuffPost is not a fan of it.
The liberal-leaning outlet shared a video last week in which it tried to explain why the 55-minute TV special is “seriously problematic.”
The holiday TV classic "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" is seriously problematic. ? pic.twitter.com/dOgqPF3bAP
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) November 29, 2018
The video noted the following examples as contributing to the “problem”: Rudolph is made fun of by his peers for his bright nose; the school coach bars Rudolph from joining “any reindeer games” because of his nose; his father Donner makes him wear a black cap over his nose so people won’t see that it’s red; and Clarice’s father says he does not want his daughter seen with a red-nosed reindeer.
However, these criticisms miss the moral of the special.
Ultimately — as scores of American adults and children know so well — Rudolph’s shiny red nose ends up being exactly what Santa’s sleigh needs to guide it through bad weather.
Rudolph becomes a hero among his fellow reindeer for saving Christmas, showing that just because he’s different was no reason at all to dislike him.
That said, the initial HuffPost tweet was “ratioed,” meaning it got significantly more replies than it did likes and retweets.
Often, this shows that a tweet is receiving negative backlash from the public — hence why this video received nearly 23,000 replies, compared to about 8,000 likes, as of this writing.
Here is a sampling of what users thought.
What intern did you have write this
— rj fanelli (@rjfanelli) December 1, 2018
is this an onion article?
— fanslashstalker (@fanslashstalker) December 1, 2018
Seriously? This is what people are not ok with in the world? Rudolph? Way to go @HuffPost making the world even more sensitive. Get a grip people. It's a classic and you're way too sensitive to realize that. #RudolphForever #GrowUp #Babies https://t.co/C5lpgTk8T3
— Ben Harrison (@Loudmouth42069) December 5, 2018
Rudolph is one of the true American traditions! Work on getting rid of the bad things on TV not the things that bring joy to people's hearts during the holidays! Some people have serious issues if they are offended by Charlie Brown and Rudolph!
— Marcene LeeAnn Smith (@LeeannMarcene) December 5, 2018
While people in Venezuela eating trash you guys saying Rudolph is racist @HuffPost report important things in the word not this trash
— simon ocando (@ocando_simon) December 1, 2018
I love Rudolph.
— Linda Anston (@AnstonLinda) November 30, 2018
Many prominent conservatives were among those lambasting HuffPost for its video.
For example, even President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., found HuffPost’s take absurd.
He tweeted out the video and wrote, “Liberalism is a disease.”
Liberalism is a disease. https://t.co/zerLtQYIon
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 29, 2018
The Blaze TV’s Allie Beth Stuckey added, “Someone got paid to come up with this idea. Someone took hours to edit the video. Someone watched it & said, ‘Yep! This is quality content. Run with it.’ That, to me, is absolutely stunning.”
Someone got paid to come up with this idea. Someone took hours to edit the video. Someone watched it & said “yep! This is quality content. Run with it” That, to me, is absolutely stunning https://t.co/HgLVF5PGSH
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) November 29, 2018
And Dave Rubin, a right-leaning classical liberal who hosts “The Rubin Report” on YouTube, argued it was part of a bigger problem.
On Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” last week, Rubin said, “If you are watching ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and you think it’s about racism and misogyny and patriarchy and the rest of it — you can find that stuff everywhere.”
Certainly, the reactions to the tweet show just what Americans think of this sort of extreme political correctness.
After all, a study conducted by the international research initiative More in Common released back in October found that 80 percent of Americans thought the country had a political correctness problem.
The labeling of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” as racist further proves that.
Check out a trailer for “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” below:
Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, and other outlets.
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