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Duggar Family Member Tells Kids Santa Claus Doesn’t Exist, Gets Slammed By Angry Fans

By Treva Bowdoin
Published on: 22:57 PST, Dec 13, 2016

Christmas is a big deal to the Duggar family, but one Duggar husband was recently slammed for being a real Scrooge and trying to ruin the holiday for kids who believe in Santa Claus.

Most members of the Duggar family aren’t currently using Christmas to promote their beliefs about how the holiday should be celebrated — they’re just enjoying being with their loved ones and making Christmas memories. Take Jessa Duggar, for example. As People reports, she recently shared an adorable Instagram video of her son, Spurgeon, wearing headphones and dancing to Christmas music. Someone in the video (possibly Josiah Duggar) reveals that the song the little boy is listening to isn’t even a religious holiday tune — it’s the “Skating” song from the soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas.

“Feelin’ in the Christmas spirit!” Jessa captioned the video of Spurgeon’s happy dance.

While Jessa Duggar was delighting fans with her cute Christmas video, one of her family members was using social media pages to engage in behavior that some people found downright Grinch-like. According to the Duggar Family News: Life Is Not All Pickles and Hairspray Facebook page, Jill Duggar’s husband, Derick Dillard, recently took to Twitter to inform any young followers that he might have that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.

“Hey kids, Santa isn’t real!” Dillard tweeted.

The tweet was soon deleted, but evidence of the aftermath it caused is all over Twitter. Some fans of the Duggar family let Derick know that they were unfollowing him, and others slammed him for trying to tell other parents’ children what to believe.

“What a big man to make children cry. Don’t use your god to be so hateful. Kids can believe in Santa. Not your place. Grow up,” @BBeckiB723 wrote.

“I respect your right to your beliefs please respect ours would you like me to tell your child that Christ isn’t real?” @lettercarrierjt tweeted.

Another Twitter user pointed out that Derick obviously doesn’t have a problem with all dressing up in a costume and playing a fictional character — he used to be Oklahoma State University’s Pistol Pete mascot.

“Neither is Pistol Pete yet you dress in a costume and promote it. #WarpedViews #Hypocrisy,” @SecretAZ12 wrote in response to Derick’s tweet.

Some commenters on the Duggar Family News page and a few of Derick Dillard’s Twitter followers thought that Dillard’s words were especially cruel because he tweeted them in the wake of a viral story about a terminally ill child who died in the arms of a Tennessee man dressed up like Santa Claus. As NBC News reports, Eric Schmitt-Matzen was the real Saint Nick in the eyes of a little boy who just wanted to meet the jolly old elf before he died. The boy was sad because he knew he wouldn’t live to see Christmas, so Santa showed up at his bedside to deliver a very special gift.

“When you get up those pearly gates, you just tell them you’re Santa’s number one elf,” Schmitt-Matzen told the unnamed boy shortly before he passed away.

While Derick Dillard may want to teach his son Israel that Santa Claus isn’t real, his wife grew up being taught differently. In a TLC post about the Duggar family’s Christmas traditions, Michelle Duggar reveals that she and Jim Bob never wanted their kids to believe that Santa Claus lives in the North Pole and uses flying reindeer as a mode of transportation. However, they did teach their children that St. Nicholas was a real person.

“Early in our marriage, Jim Bob and I really wanted to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. And so, we didn’t focus on Santa. We kept that idea out of the whole celebration, we explained to the children who Santa Claus was historically, but focused on his good deeds and his ministering to children. We tell them about the true person of Saint Nicholas, but we don’t sensationalize him.”

This isn’t the first time one of Derick’s tweets about Christmas has caused controversy. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Derick recently used his Twitter page to applaud Donald Trump for pledging that he will force Americans to say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” after he becomes President.

“What sort of President tells people what to say? Oh, yeah, right: the fascist that lost the popular vote, that’s who,” @Miss__Tina wrote in response to Dillard’s tweet.

“There wasn’t a time when you couldn’t say Merry Christmas. You are a complete nut job,” @bencar123 tweeted.

Do you think Jill Duggar’s husband just needs to quit tweeting and enjoy the holidays with his family before he stirs up even more Christmas-related controversy? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Duggar Family/Facebook]

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