A Norwegian newspaper has been forced to apologize after they published an obituary and death notice for Father Christmas.
Aftenposten , which is the second largest newspaper in Norway, has blamed an “internal procedure error” for announcing the death of Old Saint Nick, who in their obituary claimed that he was 227-years-old when he perished.
Not only did Aftenposten announce the death of Father Christmas, but they also published details of his funeral too, all of which was joined by a picture of a cross. You can check out the post that caused so much rage amongst its readers below.
Santa is NOT dead! Newspaper apologises after printing Father Christmas death notice #UkNews https://t.co/tLNUQd59eO pic.twitter.com/7odOKHaVaG
— newslocker_uknews (@newslock_uknews) December 5, 2015
For those of you that don’t understand or read Norwegian, the above reads, via the Guardian , “Our dear Father Christmas, born 12 December 1788… died on 3 December in Nordkapp.”
Nordkapp is located in the northernmost point of the country. The post then goes on to explain that the funeral for Father Christmas will take place at the North Pole Chapel just three days after Christmas on December 28.
Despite making the announcement that Father Christmas had indeed perished the Aftenposten failed to provide a reason for his death. Rather than being one person who made the announcement regarding Father Christmas’ death, the Aftenposten’s alleged author of the notice was actually revealed to be “the whole world.”
After Aftenposten’sannouncement that Father Christmas was dead started to trend across the world, the newspaper decided that it would probably be best in they apologized. It’s not really clear why they felt so inclined to apologize. Maybe it was because parents were forced to explain that Father Christmas wasn’t actually dead to their young children. Instead, he was just taking a really long nap in preparation for the one day of the year that he worked.
Or, maybe Aftenposten decided that they needed to apologize because they felt so guilty for teasing that Father Christmas had perished so close to Christmas Day, which is generally regarded to be Father Christmas’ busiest day of the year.
Still even though they had every right to feel annoyed after Aftenposten had tried to ruin Christmas with the surprising news of Santa’s death, most people didn’t take it seriously.
don’t say a word Santa is NOT dead! Newspaper apologises after printing Father Christmas d… https://t.co/VHpdm5IK8V RT #fks #wild#drugs
— ??? itz_pindas (@BOBBYPINDAS) December 4, 2015
S*nt* is dead. https://t.co/z4FCYqhKmO
— Dulach Glynn (@DulachG) December 4, 2015
News Update: Santa is not dead…… https://t.co/alzk4jyv9S
— Nightmare Factory (@NightmareFactor) December 4, 2015
He’s been dead to me for long time. Father Christmas death notice published in Norwegian newspaper. https://t.co/oRdCIYQ4CU
— Lloyd Bosworth (@l3db6h) December 4, 2015
The paper soon decided that it would be best to apologize for the announcement, confirming that a full investigation into how the the post was originally uploaded was now set to be conducted.
“An error in Aftenposten’s internal procedures led to a fictional obituary of Santa Claus [being] published in our digital systems,” the statement explained. “Aftenposten has strict guidelines for both the content and use of symbols in our obituaries. This ad is a violation of these and should never have been published.”
The paper made sure to immediately correct their mistake, confirming, “The ad was removed immediately from the digital obituary pages when we were made aware of the case.”
[Image via Shutterstock/ wavebreakmedia ]
