Joy Reid reposts viral vidWhatsApp%E3%80%90+86%2015855158769%E3%80%91pickup%20deer%20hoisteo claiming 'Jingle Bells' song is racist
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Joy Reid shares video claiming 'Jingle Bells' is racist
Former MSNBC host Joy Reid suggests the Christmas hit 'Jingle Bells' is racist. The 'Outnumbered' panel reacts to her claim.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!Former MSNBC host Joy Reid took issue with a popular Christmas carol, reposting a video that describes the beloved tune as racist. The now-viral clip has renewed scrutiny of the carol’s past, as the academic whose research the video is based on says that wasn’t her intent.
In the video, a man in festive attire stares at a plaque in Medford, Massachusetts, where James Lord Pierpont is believed to have written what became known as "Jingle Bells."
The video makes the argument that the song’s early performances were used to "mock" Black people. It goes on to discuss Pierpont’s history using racialized dialect and slurs in other works. The clip also notes that the writer later fought for the Confederate Army in defense of slavery.

Joy-Ann Reid speaks onstage during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation annual Legislative Conference National Town Hall at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 25. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)
"This is where a racist Confederate soldier wrote ‘Jingle Bells’ to make fun of Black people," reads the first caption on screen.
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The video says that Pierpont was strapped for cash and wrote the original version, "The One Horse Open Sleigh," for performances where White actors in blackface caricatured Black people "trying to participate in winter activities."
Reid, who lost her MSNBC show "The ReidOut" earlier this year, reposted the clip to her 1.3 million Instagram followers, writing, "Lord have mercy." The video cites a 2017 Cambridge University Press paper titled "The Story I Must Tell: ‘Jingle Bells’ in the Minstrel Repertoire."