By Chris Nesi
Fired MSNBC host Joy Reid played Grinch on social media this week, sharing a video claiming beloved Christmas anthem “Jingle Bells” was written “to make fun of black people.”
In the video she shared to her 1.3 million Instagram followers, a man in a Christmas sweater and Santa hat stands on the streets of Medford, Massachusetts near a plaque marks the site where James Lord Pierpont is believed to have penned the song in 1850.
He takes off his hat disapprovingly and scowls at the plaque, the video caption reading “this is where a racist Confederate soldier wrote ‘Jingle Bells’ to make fun of black people, and has its origins in bigoted minstrel shows that were popular at the time.
The video captions go on to claim Pierpont — whose nephew grew up to be legendary financier J.P. Morgan — was hard up for cash when he composed “The One Horse Open Sleigh,” and did so expressly for its use in performances in which white actors put on blackface to “mock and caricature black people trying to participate in winter activities.”
It alleges that the lyrics “laughing all the way” in the song “likely” is a reference to a racist comedic routine of the day known as the “Laughing Darkie.”
Pierpont patented the song in 1859 and changed its name to the familiar “Jingle Bells” before the start of the Civil War, at which point the video claims he “abandoned his family” to join the Confederate Army, and wrote Southern fight songs to “rouse men defending slavery.”
Reid, whose low-rated MSNBC show “The ReidOut” was cancelled in February after nearly five years, has a storied history of racially-charged fearmongering and bizarre statements, including peddling a false claim that President Trump wanted “reparations for white people” last year.
She wasn’t the first to besmirch the most popular Christmas song in the US. Council Rock Primary School in upstate New York drew the ire of residents when it banned “Jingle Bells” from being sung at the school’s annual holiday concert due to its alleged ties to blackface and minstrelsy.