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Brace yourselves. Especially if you enjoy wishing others “Merry Christmas” during the holiday season.
You might just find yourself in a big mess like veteran actor Tim Allen after a line spoken by his character in a new Disney+ series offended the masses–or at least several who took to social media to publicize their issues with Allen’s line, doing so in such a way as to seemingly speak for the masses.
Credit: Disney
Allen plays Old St. Nick himself in The Santa Clauses, a new series on Disney+ that follows Scott Calvin, a dad who, nearly three decades ago, took on the role of Santa Claus. But after all that time, his magic is beginning to fade. He’s challenged with the many tasks required in his role, and once he discovers a new Santa clause, he’s forced to think again about his role as Santa and as a father.
Daily Mail recently reported that in an episode of the new miniseries, Allen’s character seems as though he’s perplexed. When he’s asked whether something is bothering him, he responds by saying that things are ok, except that “saying ‘Merry Christmas to all’ has suddenly become problematic.”
"saying 'Merry Christmas to all' has suddenly become problematic!" — actual dialogue from the new Disney+ Santa Clause series starring Tim Allen
— Scott Weinberg (@scottEmovienerd) November 16, 2022
In the scene, Allen’s character is simply making an observation, but the single line spoken by Scott Calvin/Santa Claus caused an uproar on social media.
it just struck me as a truly weird thing to put in a kid's series. "<someone> wants to stop us from saying Merry Christmas!" is not some random campaign. it's a low-key effort to vilify anyone who doesn't celebrate this holiday. in a grown-up movie I'd just groan and ignore it.
— Scott Weinberg (@scottEmovienerd) November 17, 2022
Twitter user @revolucienary tweeted, “Disney+ quietly dropped the “Santa Clause” reboot series today, and I can instantly see how they sold Tim Allen on this,” followed by captioned photos that mock the line once again.
Disney+ quietly dropped the Santa Clause reboot series today and I can instantly see how they sold Tim Allen on this. pic.twitter.com/jaEiwYu5ql
— Lucien ? (@revolucienary) November 17, 2022
Another tweet reads, “Uh oh, sounds like Santa wants to force his religion on everybody,” but that tweet was called out for its ignorance by another user who tweeted, “Except Santa isn’t a religious symbol. It’s a marketing image. The first Santa as we know it now was modernized by Coca-Cola. Santa is a modern secular myth.”
Except Santa isn’t a religious symbol. It’s a marketing image. The first Santa as we know it now was modernized by Coca-Cola. Santa is a modern secular myth.
— dkump11 (@dkump11) November 18, 2022
Jack Burditt, the creator of The Santa Clause, was asked about the line in the episode–a so-called “lightning rod” line–and he said that including the line in the episode was something about which he continually changed his mind.
Credit: Disney
“This is something that I just think is silly, but then I’m like, I don’t know,” Burditt said. “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.”
In the story posted at TheMix.net, the writer rides the Allen-bashing agenda wave as far as he can by including details about Tim Allen’s political affiliations in the post, presumably in an attempt to further mock the veteran actor for the line he said in the episode from The Santa Clauses.
On The Jimmy Kimmel Show, Tim Allen explained himself, saying he doesn’t “preach” anything–that he simply doesn’t ascribe to the “‘we’ culture.'”
Credit: TIME
“You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody believes,” Allen said to Jimmy Kimmel. “This is like Thirties Germany. I don’t know what happened. If you’re not part of the group, ‘You know what we believe is right,’ I go, ‘Well, I might have a problem with that.’ I’m a comedian; I like going on both sides. I literally don’t preach anything; what I’ve done is I’ve just not joined into, as I call it, the ‘we culture.’ I’m not telling anybody else how to live. I don’t like that.”
The Santa Clauses airs exclusively on Disney+.
