Holiday Classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Accused of Being 'Seriously Problematic'
holiday classic is facing controversy after some viewers deemed it inappropriate.
After the beloved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special aired again on Nov. 27, the Huffington Post tweeted out a video summarizing ways in which it could be seen as problematic. The special first aired in 1964, and the video pointed out that some themes are inappropriate now.
Among them was the bullying that little Rudolph faces for his red nose, including verbal abuse from his father Donner who tries to cover up the shiny nose.
“There are more important things than comfort: self-respect,” Donner tells Rudolph after the reindeer complains about the nose cover-up.
“The holiday TV classic ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ is seriously problematic,” reads the caption on the video, which has been seen over 5.6 million times.
Among the critiques were how Santa aids in marginalizing the young reindeer, as well as the bullying behind his coach egging on the other reindeer to not let Rudolph play with them.
The comments ignited controversy on Twitter, with most people finding it hard to believe that some would have a problem with the tale. Even the ladies of The View got in on the debate and — for once — all agreed that any criticism didn’t make sense.
“People accused Santa of being a bully. Don’t they know the song?” Whoopi Goldberg says before launching into a fantastic dramatic reading of the lyrics.
“Where is the problem?” she says to applause once done. “He’s a kid that nobody believed in and suddenly they realized he is special, he is who he is for a reason. And he becomes the hero. Where’s the problem?”
It seems like the special isn’t suffering from the recent controversy. A new poll released Wednesday morning found that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was voted the most beloved Christmas movie, with 83% of participants finding it favorable.
What about all those reindeer games he was excluded from.
I see a class act suit in the future against the Sleigh Reindeer union, local 08 .....
Does Whoopi mean other than the three billion burglaries he commits in one night and the eating of about six billion cookies (I can completely understand why he's a little plump). If it wasn't for the toys and the red suit, I could have seen him getting his ass blown off a couple of hundred years ago.
The "kid" is Rudolph. I didn't think he was burglarizing 3 million homes and eating 6 billion dozen cookies. It's that jolly fat man he hauls around in a sleigh
the little fucker was obviously hitting either the sauce or nose candy the other 364 nights a year
The Reindeer are fed up with Santa's bullying and are refusing to migrate this year. Christmas is going to be cancelled, Santa's sleigh has been grounded.
Grandmaw, watch out for them reindeer!
Uh, I think we all knew Rudolph was getting bullied. That's sort of the point. The kid everyone teased because they thought he was deformed or handicapped ends up winning. He overcomes the bullying and his "deformity" turns out to be useful. It's a story of hope and perseverance in the face of adversity. What's not to love? SJWs are too busy being outraged to realize how much they should love this story.