Tim Allen’s joke in The Santa Clauses about ‘Merry Christmas’ being offensive is causing huge debate
A line made by Tim Allen in Disney Plus series The Santa Clauses has managed to spark a debate online - you can see the trailer here:
The new Disney Plus mini-series sees Allen return as Scott Calvin - or Santa Claus - as he sets about choosing a worthy successor for the role of Father Christmas.
The first two episodes landed on Disney Plus yesterday (16 November) and one particular line has managed to cause a stir online.
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In one scene, Calvin is asked if something is bothering him to which he replies to say he’s 'fine' except that ‘saying 'Merry Christmas to all' has suddenly become problematic’.
The line was spotted by filmmaker Scott Weinberg, who posted it on Twitter, prompting a flurry of responses.
Replying to the post, one commenter said: “What kills me with people being so up in arms about the phrase “Happy Holidays” is that a song with that title came out in 1942 and has been popular ever since.”
Another said: “Number of people I've seen take offence to ‘Merry Christmas’: 0
“Number of conservatives I've seen take offence to the idea they made up that people take offence to ‘Merry Christmas’: So freaking many.”
A third person wrote: “What's this 'War on Christmas' nonsense doing in my Disney Santa movie?”
Someone else said that it had been fairly common for years to say ‘Happy Holidays’ rather than ‘Merry Christmas’ so as not to offend people who celebrate other religious holidays, such as Hanukkah.
Another person then pointed out: “We don’t say it to not offend. We say it to include. We say it because we acknowledge that there might be things out there we don’t personally observe. Has nothing to do with offence.”
However, another disagreed and said they'd been subjected to a 'ten minute lecture' after 'accidentally' saying 'Merry Christmas' to someone.
During a recent interview with Deadline, The Santa Clauses creator Jack Burditt was questioned about the inclusion of the line.
When asked if the team went ‘back and forth’ on the ‘lightning rod’ piece of dialogue, Burditt replied: “Yeah, we did. This is something that I just think is silly but then I’m like, I don’t know… I mean, look, we also had a joke at one point where Santa is on his rounds, they’re going in for a landing and somebody’s shooting something up at him. And Noel the elf says something like, ‘A war on Christmas!’ I’m like, yeah, I don’t wanna go that far.”
The first two episodes of The Santa Clauses are streaming on Disney Plus now.
Topics: TV and Film, Disney Plus, Christmas
Claire Reid