About

SantaCon Subway Turnstile Jump Video is a viral video featuring a group of people dressed as Santa Claus avoiding train fares by jumping over turnstiles. The video, originally posted in December 2019, was the subject of controversy on Twitter, where the participants were accused of exploiting their privilege as white people with many arguing that this would be impossible for a person of color due to crackdowns on fare hopping in New York City subway stations, which many believe unfairly target people of color.

Origin

On December 14th, 2019, Twitter user @solublefischel tweeted a vieo of a group of people dressed as Santa Claus jumping New York City subway turnstiles. They wrote, "Damn… SantaCon is lit y'all." The post received more than 2.6 million views, 6,100 likes and 1,400 retweets in less than four days (shown below).

Damn… SantaCon is lit y'all pic.twitter.com/73xNzLJs7m

— stone elizabeth other-mountain (@solublefischel) December 14, 2019

Spread

Following the post, they added a follow-up video of the group holding open the emergency exit door to the subway, offering riders a free ride. The post received more than 87,000 views, 800 likes and 145 retweets in less than four days (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/d0GDnPKHzn

— stone elizabeth other-mountain (@solublefischel) December 14, 2019

Some criticized the video, accusing participants of exploiting privilege. Twitter^[1] user @champagne_sage posted an image of a person of a black person and the caption, "You know who wouldn’t get away with hopping the train like that even while dressed as Santa?" The tweet received more than 2,100 likes and 135 retweets in less than four days (shown below, left).

@solublefischel responded to the criticism by posting an image of the flier the group was handing out. It articulates the group's intentions to protest subways fares, claiming solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world. The post received more than

@solublefischel responded to the criticism by tweeting^[2] an image of the flier the group was handing out. It articulates the group's intentions to protest subways fares, claiming solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world. The post received more than 960 likes and 185 retweets in less than four days (shown below, center).

The Twitter account for the Swipe It Forward campaign, an activist group focused on unfair fare evasion policies, tweeted,^[3] "We will discuss this in a bit. Y'all ready??? Hint: White people doing shit that has ZERO social, economic or political consequence to THEM is NOT solidarity work, NOT anti-racism work. Race neutral propaganda doesn't cut it either." The tweet received more than 270 likes in less than two days (shown below, right).

On December 17th, The Daily Dot ^[4] published a report on the video and the criticism.