Joy Reid Shares Video Claiming 'Jingle Bells' Is Racist

Stop the presses, everyone! Joy Reid has found something she considers racist. Reid didn't come up with this one herself — it was some unknown who made a video claiming that "Jingle Bells" was written "to make fun of black people." This reminds us of the time Shaun "Talcum X" King shared the most important column of his life, exposing the racist second verse to the national anthem, leading people to vandalize a statue of Francis Scott Key.

The New York Post says Reid shared the video with her 1.3 million Instagram followers, who probably ate it up.

‘Jingle Bells’ is racist, claims video shared by Joy Reid — sparking Christmas culture war https://t.co/2EoCPjnsT2 pic.twitter.com/TGnGrjFjej
— New York Post (@nypost) December 10, 2025

Chris Nesi reports for The New York Post:

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 that 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.”

As a former president might have said, "Come on, man."