People are upset about ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ 

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As is tradition when Christmastime nears, the 1964 classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” returned to American television screens. But this time around, the once-heralded stop-motion film has made the news for all the wrong reasons.

Viewers may recall its simple plot: The reindeer is mocked and cast away by the majority of his peers when they discover his glowing red nose. Even though Rudolph ultimately returns to save the day — using his glimmering snout to guide Santa 
through poor weather — there’s no denying the verbal attacks Rudolph endures early on.

“Hey, fire snout!” one young reindeer says, mocking him. Another teases with “Rainbow puss!”

“Stop calling me names!” Rudolph cries in response.

But was the red-nosed reindeer marginalized? That is the premise of a HuffPost video posted Wednesday to Twitter that has been viewed more than 5.3 million times as of Sunday afternoon.

The video notes an instance in the film where Rudolph’s father “verbally abuses him.” The father of Rudolph’s love interest is called a “bigot” for forbidding his daughter from being seen with the red-nosed one. The video includes various reactions to the film from Twitter, one saying, “Yearly reminder that #Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is a parable on racism & homophobia w/ Santa as a bigoted exploitative” [the rest is not family friendly

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