[Glenn.]

Reportedly, the actors who will portray Santa Claus during this year’s holiday season at Walt Disney World will be culturally diverse for the first time.

So far, Santa Claus has only been played by white or white-passing men at Walt Disney World. Including a Santa of a different race would be the latest move by Disney to promote diversity and inclusivity.

Santa has already appeared at Magic Kingdom, played by a white man during the first two Disney Very Merriest After Hours events. He has his own Liberty Square “sighting” location and appears in Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. Santa will be appearing in more Walt Disney World locations starting this weekend, as well as at Disneyland Resort.

https://www.wdwmagic.com/events/holi...on-program.htm

[Toy Soldier]

Tbh it would make sense in Santa-lore even. He isn’t human, he’s an immortal spirit appearing in the form of human, so it would make sense that he looks different at different times, or perhaps that he transcends time and space, so it’s not that he gets around the whole world in one night, but rather he visits every house all at once in millions of physical forms.

[Liam-]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Tbh it would make sense in Santa-lore even. He isn’t human, he’s an immortal spirit appearing in the form of human, so it would make sense that he looks different at different times, or perhaps that he transcends time and space, so it’s not that he gets around the whole world in one night, but rather he visits every house all at once in millions of physical forms.

I’m totally up for Santa actually being Dr. Who

[Glenn.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Tbh it would make sense in Santa-lore even. He isn’t human, he’s an immortal spirit appearing in the form of human, so it would make sense that he looks different at different times, or perhaps that he transcends time and space, so it’s not that he gets around the whole world in one night, but rather he visits every house all at once in millions of physical forms.

Pretty much.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Tbh it would make sense in Santa-lore even. He isn’t human, he’s an immortal spirit appearing in the form of human, so it would make sense that he looks different at different times, or perhaps that he transcends time and space, so it’s not that he gets around the whole world in one night, but rather he visits every house all at once in millions of physical forms.

I still find it creepy that he likes to break into houses to visit kids.

[Alf]

I'm surprised he isn't trans by now.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Alf

I'm surprised he isn't trans by now.

Yes

[Oliver_W]

Stuff like that draws attention to the fact it isn't the "real Santa" sitting there.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

Stuff like that draws attention to the fact it isn't the "real Santa" sitting there.

Not if you teach them proper lore as I’ve suggested.

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Not if you teach them proper lore as I’ve suggested.

The proper lore? Y'mean Viking children stuffing hay into boots, so Odin could feed it to his many-legged horse in exchange for presents?

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

The proper lore? Y'mean Viking children stuffing hay into boots, so Odin could feed it to his many-legged horse in exchange for presents?

The proper lore is of course my lore.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Not if you teach them proper lore as I’ve suggested.

So long as we don't mention Zwarte Piet. That's insulting apparently. but giving a Scandinavian a black face is okay. The most annoying this about this kind of crap is, I doubt it was a black person who came up with the idea. Disney, founded by a MASSIVE anti-Semite, but never even been considered for cancellation.

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Livia

So long as we don't mention Zwarte Piet. That's insulting apparently. but giving a Scandinavian a black face is okay. The most annoying this about this kind of crap is, I doubt it was a black person who came up with the idea. Disney, founded by a MASSIVE anti-Semite, but never even been considered for cancellation.

So you can't tell the difference between zwarte Piet and an actual black santa ? .

'Black Pete' is literally white people doing black face and not caring who they offend , oh and by the way anyone who disagreed with the 'tradition' got death threats.. ( how lovely eh) bet you didn't know that ?, there was silent protests around it .

Santa can be any race , he could even been a woman in a fake white beard ,why does it matter . plus they'll always be a million old white men dressed as Santa , that's the image everyone always sees .

[Livia]

Originally Posted by GoldHeart

So you can't tell the difference between zwarte Piet and an actual black santa ? .

'Black Pete' is literally white people doing black face and not caring who they offend , oh and by the way anyone who disagreed with the 'tradition' got death threats.. ( how lovely eh) bet you didn't know that ?, there was silent protests around it .

Santa can be any race , he could even been a woman in a fake white beard ,why does it matter . plus they'll always be a million old white men dressed as Santa , that's the image everyone always sees .

What do you mean, I can't tell the difference? Bet I didn't know that? Who the bloody hell are you talking to?

Santa is a white man with a white beard who comes from the North Pole. That's the image everyone sees because THAT's what the image is. Try taking folklore figures from other cultures and making them white. See how it plays out.

[parmnion]

Originally Posted by GoldHeart

So you can't tell the difference between zwarte Piet and an actual black santa ? .

'Black Pete' is literally white people doing black face and not caring who they offend , oh and by the way anyone who disagreed with the 'tradition' got death threats.. ( how lovely eh) bet you didn't know that ?, there was silent protests around it .

Santa can be any race , he could even been a woman in a fake white beard ,why does it matter . plus they'll always be a million old white men dressed as Santa , that's the image everyone always sees .

Not caring who they offend....should read, not caring who they are entertaining whilst on stage.

[Livia]

Looking forward to Disney introducing some black folk lore heroes and having white actors play them.

We've had a black actress play Anne Boleyn. Really looking forward to Dame Judy Dench portraying Rosa Parks with great success.

[bitontheslide]

the next thing will be rather than saying ho ho ho, it will be some diversity positive motto

[LeatherTrumpet]

damn it I was hoping he would be a woman

[Livia]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

damn it I was hoping he would be a woman

While I LOLed at this, I'm sure they're not ruling it out for Christmas 2022.

[Niamh.]

My kids never thought the Santa's you go to see at Christmas were the "real" Santa anyway, just his helpers so I can't see any issue with this, I'm sure there have been other black Santa's at shopping Centres before?

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

My kids never thought the Santa's you go to see at Christmas were the "real" Santa anyway, just his helpers so I can't see any issue with this, I'm sure they're have been other black Santa's at shopping Centres before?

We did once go to a Santa where you go on a trailer ride out into the woods to a little cabin that's full of presents, and the guy has a real big bushy white beard and "authentic looking" costume etc... also it was about a 2 hour drive so we said we had driven to the North Pole . Also it was serendipitously snowing. That's the only time they were quite successfully fooled. The next year my eldest was like "Remember last year when we went to the real one?" . She was only maybe 5 at the time. Little one would only have been 2 or 3 so really just enjoyed the trailer ride.

TBH she always realised that "Shopping Centre Santas" were completely unaffiliated with actual Santa and were just there to get toys from

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

We did once go to a Santa where you go on a trailer ride out into the woods to a little cabin that's full of presents, and the guy has a real big bushy white beard and "authentic looking" costume etc... also it was about a 2 hour drive so we said we had driven to the North Pole . Also it was serendipitously snowing. That's the only time they were quite successfully fooled. The next year my eldest was like "Remember last year when we went to the real one?" . She was only maybe 5 at the time. Little one would only have been 2 or 3 so really just enjoyed the trailer ride.

TBH she always realised that "Shopping Centre Santas" were completely unaffiliated with actual Santa and were just there to get toys from

Oh that sounds amazing, would like to go there myself

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Oh that sounds amazing, would like to go there myself

It was a great experience but I made the classic error of making sure the kids were all bundled up warm but just wearing my own normal jacket and not-very-thick gloves and it was so... so cold... .

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

My kids never thought the Santa's you go to see at Christmas were the "real" Santa anyway, just his helpers so I can't see any issue with this, I'm sure there have been other black Santa's at shopping Centres before?

and in movies, so its not a major step forward or anything

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

My kids never thought the Santa's you go to see at Christmas were the "real" Santa anyway, just his helpers so I can't see any issue with this, I'm sure there have been other black Santa's at shopping Centres before?

Have you ever seen the movie Call Me Claus with Whoopie Goldberg? , it's a good movie . But anyway I liked how they explained to a child why Santa looks different, the real 'santa' mentioned even being a woman at one point . He's still the same person but he appears in different forms to people.

Which when you think about it makes sense , sometimes he's native Indian, sometimes he's Chinese ,he can be any race . Plus he's also a fictional character so why does it matter.