He’s come down the chimney — and out of the closet.
The Norwegian Postal Service (Posten Norge) puts a ho-ho-homo twist on the classic carol “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” — with a new commercial depicting Kris Kringle as a gay man. The ad, which features English subtitles, has amassed around 150,000 views — and hundreds of divided comments — since it was uploaded Monday to YouTube.
“Posten is an inclusive workplace with great diversity,” the company’s marketing director Monica Solberg told LGBTQ Nation of the commercial, which commemorates 50 years since Norway decriminalized homosexuality. The clip is captioned, “In 2022, Norway marks 50 years of being able to love whoever we want.”
The four-minute video, titled “When Harry Met Santa,” shows the shirtless titular character gazing lovingly as Saint Nick disappears up the chimney — an apparent twist on the Yuletide trope of a kid catching Kris Kringle on Christmas Eve.
‘Little kid: Hey Santa, what did you bring me? Santa: Nothing, but I’m taking your dad away.’
One of the snarky remarks made in the YouTube comments section
The short film t hen cuts to the days after Christmas Eve, when Harry is mired in melancholy, knowing he has to wait 364 days before Santa comes down his chimney again.
Finally, unable to contain his love, Harry pens Santa a letter that reads, “All I want for Christmas is you.” He gets his wish and spends this Christmas making out with his sleigh-riding soulmate.
“When Harry Met Santa” concludes with Father Christmas farming out some of his gift-delivery duties to the postal service — freeing him up to hang with Harry during the holidays. “This year, Santa is happy that Norway Post can relieve him a little, so that he can be with the one he loves,” gushed Solberg.
The postal service’s inclusivity-promoting advert spread holiday cheer — and jeers — among the online peanut gallery, with some dubbing it the best Christmas campaign of the year.
“That was quite sweet and wonderful,” fawned one fan on YouTube, while another wrote, “Jesus Christ, why am I crying?! The feels.”
However, as viral sensations typically go, not everyone was impressed.
“Really, Santa is gay now? I must have missed the memo,” one Scrooge griped in the comments section, while another snarkily chimed in: “Little kid: Hey Santa, what did you bring me? Santa: Nothing, but I’m taking your dad away.”
This isn’t the first time Santa has been depicted as someone other than a straight, white male. During this year’s Christmas festivities, Disney’s US theme parks featured a black Kris Kringle, marking the first time they’d done so in their 66-year existence.