‘Jingle Bells’ Is Racist, Claims Video Shared by Joy Reid — sparking Christmas Culture War

New York Post ^ | Dec. 10, 2025 | Chris Nesi

[nickcarraway]

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.

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 2lame4words; babyitscold; chistmascarols; christmas; jinglebells; joyreid; racist

[nickcarraway]

All Christmas songs are either pro-rape or racist?

[Jonty30]

The reason why sleighs had bells is so they would make noise and give people a chance to jump off the path so they sleight could get by.

Nothing to do with slavery at all.
Joy Reid is a slavery pornographer.

[GreenHornet]

I wonder how she feels about “White Christmas”

[Rummyfan]

Joy Reid... a semi-functioning idiot.

[Verginius Rufus]

Pierpont was a Confederate in 1859 before the Confederate States of America was created?

Maybe "Silent Night" is racist. It was composed by an Austrian priest in a lily-white village which had no black people.

[hinckley buzzard]

They had “confederate soldiers” in 1850? Who knew?

[VTenigma]

It would be easier to name the things not racist.

[TLI]

FIRED msnbc host joy reid could give hank johnson a real run for his money playing the Stupid Games.

.

[Retain Mike]

I remember when the race hustlers said the Masters golf tournament was raciest. The next year CBS broadcast it anyway, but it had no sponsors. The tournament officials probably reminded CBS their perpetual franchise might not be perpetual in the future.

[BradyLS]

What will be racist when all the whites are gone? You know they won’t ever drop that club.

[Apparatchik]

Not a damn thing racist about it The dude wrote popular songs that were used in minstrel shows - beyond his control. Nothing to do with Jingle Bells.

These people are insane.

[No Party Affiliation]

Anyone giving a platform to an IQ deprived, bigoted witch of low moral character is a fool.

[catnipman]

Reid is off her rocker on this one: Obviously “White Christmas” is the racist Christmas song!

[simpson96]

Some people have too much time on their hands.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Is there anything that isn’t racist?

We should just kill all the white people, right Joyless?

Except you and yours, of course.

[Skywise]

BS - was just doing some research on the minstrel shows and music and the famous minstrel music - the camptown ladies, oh Susanna, all have printed sheet music from the 1840s saying this music is based on actual “Ethiopian songs”.

Jingle bells? No such thing. I’m sure it was probably played in minstrel shows of the day as they were THE pop culture art form for decades and I’m sure a popular song like Jingle Bells would’ve ended up in the shows, especially at Christmas time. But it wasn’t written to be racist.

[Jeff Chandler]

Jingle Bells was considered risqué for its time. A man and a women driving off unchaperoned in a one horse open sleigh.

Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh
Words and Music by James Pierpont

Verse 1:
Dashing thro’ the snow, In a one horse open sleigh,
O’er the hills we go, Laughing all the way;
Bells on bobtail ring, Making spirits bright,
Oh what sport to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight.

Chorus:
Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way;
Oh! What joy it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way;
Oh! What joy it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.

Verse 2: A day or two ago, I though I’d take a ride,
And soon Miss Fannie Bright was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank; Misfortune seemed his lot,
He got into a drifted bank, And we, we got upsot.

Chorus:
Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way;
Oh! What joy it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way;
Oh! What joy it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.

Verse 3:
A day or two ago, The story I must tell,
I went out on the snow, And on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by, In a one horse open sleigh,
He laughed as there I sprawling lie, But quickly drove away.

Chorus:
Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way;
Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way;
Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.

Verse 4:
Now the ground is white, Go it while you’re young,
Take the girls tonight, And sing this sleighing song;
Just get a bob-tailed bay, Two forty as his speed.
Hitch him to an open sleigh, And crack, you’ll take the lead.

Chorus:
Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way;
Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way;
Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.

[Labyrinthos]

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-survey/article/story-i-must-tell-jingle-bells-in-the-minstrel-repertoire/D42C78950A58BDB88290954F73B195B2

[Blood of Tyrants]

Liberalism is a culture of hate. They hate the US and everything about it. But you can’t make them leave.