Visiting Santa is meant to be a magical moment. But one child was left bitterly disappointed when instead of "ho ho ho", he was greeted by some very hurtful remarks.
Carter, a young boy who uses Sign Language, went to visit Santa with his mom at a shopping center north pole in New Zealand.
Using sign language, Carter asked if he could have a gold Iron Man toy for Christmas.
The mall Santa's response has sparked outrage and backlash for its insensitivity, as he asked the boy's mother: "Is there nothing you can do to help with surgery?"
"No, no need for that" responded Carter's mom, signing along so that her son wouldn't feel excluded.
Despite her response, the mall Santa persisted, asking again: "Nothing you can do to fix it?"
Carter's mom handled the situation perfectly, saying: "There is nothing to fix, we have sign language."
The Santa then gave Carter a small present, which thanked Santa for before leaving with his mom.
Their whole exchange was captured in a video that has since been reposted on Twitter, with many users responding with shock and outrage at how insensitive and ableist the comments are.
"Santa needs some education," wrote one person.
"Audism, ableism, and ignorance at their finest," added another.
Other's thought the man was not suited to the job of spreading Christmas joy.
"Fire this Santa!" one user wrote, before another added: "This Santa should be on the naughty list, or send to surgery fix to be better Santa."
There were also a lot of users praising Carter and his mom for their calm and collected response to a difficult situation.
"I’m very proud of the kid for staying calm though. And to the mum who handled it beautifully," one person tweeted. They added, "As agonizing as that was to watch I just hope that the kid is doing okay."
"Mom handled so well for her deaf child," another agreed.
And one clever user compared the incident to an iconic scene in Miracle on 34th Street, in which a mall Santa responds to a deaf child in sign language.
