Former MSNBC host Joy Reid sparked a fresh culture war debate after she reposted a viral video that condemned the popular Christmas carol "Jingle Bells" as racist. The video's claims are based on the historical context of the song's early performances and the author's personal history.
The viral clip, which Reid shared with her 1.3 million Instagram followers and the comment "Lord have mercy," claims that the song was written by James Lord Pierpont—a soldier who later fought for the Confederate Army in defense of slavery—to "mock" Black people.
The video states that the original version, "The One Horse Open Sleigh," was written for minstrel performances where white actors in blackface caricatured Black people "trying to participate in winter activities." The caption on the video explicitly reads: "This is where a racist Confederate soldier wrote ‘Jingle Bells’ to make fun of Black people."
Academic Pushback
The viral video cites a 2017 Cambridge University Press paper by author Kyna Hamill, titled "The Story I Must Tell: ‘Jingle Bells’ in the Minstrel Repertoire." Hamill's paper notes, "Its blackface and racist origins have been subtly and systematically removed from its history."
However, Hamill has repeatedly tried to clarify that her work is being misrepresented. She maintains that she never claimed the song was written as racist mockery, nor did she say it is racist now. Instead, her research focused on the performance history of the song and where it originated, not Pierpont’s intent in composing it.
Hamill told the Boston Herald in 2017, "I never said it was racist now," adding that she was not trying to dictate what songs are sung at Christmas. The academic pushback has failed to stop the viral spread of the video's inflammatory claim, which is now being promoted by figures like Joy Reid.