SANTA SACKED
Ho, ho . . . Whoa! Parade duties lost over comments
Farmers is ditching its longstanding Santa for tomorrow’s Christmas parade, after the man behind the beard said he wouldn’t hire women to play Father Christmas.
My Santa director Neville Baker last weekend told the Herald on Sunday he did not cast female applicants for the role of Santa. “They apply, and you say, ‘have you misread the ad?’ Putting politically correct things to one side, there’s a certain character people expect to find when they come to meet Santa,” Baker said. For the past five years, he personally played Santa on the main float in the Farmers Santa Parade, and was booked to do so again. However, after his comments, Farmers said it would no longer hire its Santa through the My Santa company.
“We are distancing ourselves from this company. We found his comments to be inappropriate and unnecessary and will be not using their services for the parade,” chairman of the Children’s Christmas Parade Trust Michael Barnett said.
However, last night Baker said he had not heard from Farmers and insisted he would turn up as usual.
“I’m not aware to any change in my arrangement. It’s news to me, I’ve got no communication of that,” Baker said.
“I will be attending the parade on Sunday.”
Pressed on whether he would attend as the Farmers Santa, he replied: “Why else would I go to a parade? I’m not a kid.”
Baker had earlier defended his boys-only stance. “It is my responsibility that the people hired to perform the character of Santa Claus are able to be as authentic as possible in order to provide the best possible experience for children.”
He took this responsibility seriously, and only hired those who he believed could perform a “believable and accurate” representation of a traditional Santa.
“For those reasons I have no plans to change the way I operate my business in the foreseeable future.”
Baker appears to have the backing of the Human Rights Comission.
A spokeswoman said gender was a “prohibited ground of discrimination” — but in some circumstances it would not be unlawful, such as “for reasons of authenticity”.