The author of a new children’s Christmas book is facing some backlash for the controversial subject matter — specifically his re-invention of Santa Claus.
Daniel Kibblesmith, who also writes for CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” portrayed St. Nicholas as a gay, black man living with his white husband, David, at the North Pole.
In an interview with CNN, Kibblesmith and the book’s illustrator, A.P. Quach, explained the motivation behind the book.
“It was sort of inspired by the annual tradition we have in this country of pretending that there’s a giant war on Christmas and that traditional Christmas is under attack,” the author said.
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A number of factors aided in the development of the book, but he said the general narrative emerged from a story in the news ahead of Christmas 2016.
“Among other things, we were reading all of the news about the Mall of America hiring a black Santa Claus last year,” he said. “And me and my now-wife made a joke on Twitter that if we had a child, they would only know about black Santa Claus.”
He added that they would explain any white Santas they encountered in malls or other public places by telling the child “that’s his husband.”
The joke soon transformed into an actual book, he noted, when Quach injected herself into the Twitter conversation and the two began working on “Santa’s Husband.”
“New Day” host Victor Blackwell called the book a “fresh new twist” on the traditional Christmas character and went on to read an excerpt.
“Like any married couple, they have their disagreements, but they always manage to kiss and make up — usually over a plate of milk and cookies,” he read.
The unorthodox tale received some support on social media and from a number of traditional outlets. The Chicago Tribune’s Rex Huppke, for example, wrote that it was “as true and humble a Christmas tale as any Santa enthusiast could want.”
Several conservative pundits, however, saw it as inappropriate for children and an affront to traditional values.
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“I don’t mean to curdle your egg nog, but the storybook was written for children as young as four-years-old,” wrote Fox News commentator Todd Starnes.
As Red State reported, Kibblesmith responded to the criticism — some of which has come from within the gay community — that his book was written with an ideological objective in mind.
“Well, I think that’s a legitimate criticism,” he said. “I mean, I’m literally on the news anchor scene now, but, you know, that’s just the world that we come from. I’m a political satire writer. So when, you know, I have the opportunity to write a book, these are the things that I care about and that I’m interested in.”
His ultimate goal, he said, was to “put a net positive into the world and contribute to a vacuum of representation.” He also expressed gratitude for the fact that “the response has been so overwhelmingly positive so far.”