Kendall: (on TV) Your parents will tell you he’s real because they love you. They want you to enjoy the myth of 1) “ho ho ho” and sugar plums and 2)elves. They’ll tell all the lies to you that their parents told to them because they want to surround you with the magic feeling that goes with Christmas. And it’s all right to pretend along with your parents that there really is such as thing as Santa Claus. Enjoy it like a good story much as you would Jack in the Beanstalk or the Easter Bunny or Peter Pan. But no giant is going to fall out of the sky 3)chasing a golden goose. No rabbit’s going to 4)sneak into your house with chocolate eggs, and there won’t be any Santa Claus coming down your 5)chimney for real. This is Kendal Stevens.
(In the court)
Lawyer 1: 6)Shattered quite a few myths there, Kendal.
Kendall: Any child old enough to be watching the news probably already knows and if not, he or she should.
Lawyer 1: Why?
Kendall: Because at some point he’s going to know. And if the news comes from an older 7)sibling or another kid at school, it won’t be broken gently. I remember the day I found out. It was a huge 8)betrayal. My parents had lied to me. My son --- when he found out at the age of seven from an older kid at school, he came home, he looked at me, he said, “I trusted you.” And I realized this is a fundamental lie to children.
Child: I was playing with my toys on the 9)rug. I wasn’t really watching the TV. And then I heard Santa Claus. I looked up. That’s when I heard it.
Lawyer 2: Tell us what you heard, Jacob.
Child: I heard that man say there was no Santa Claus.
Lawyer 2: OK, and can you tell us how that made you feel?
Child: [sobbing sadly]
Lawyer 2: How old are you, Jacob?
Child: I’m eight.
Lawyer 2: Eight, wow. What are you first grade? Second?
Child: Third.
Lawyer 2: Third! So you read, do math and you look like a smart kid. Ever been in an airplane, Jacob?
Child: Yeah, last year I went to Disneyland in California. It was a jet.
Lawyer 2: A jet! I bet a jet goes fast.
Child: 700 miles per hour.
Lawyer 2: Woosh! Jacob, truthfully, when you heard Mr. Stevens’ broadcast, you already knew there was no Santa, didn’t you?
Child: No, I did not!
Lawyer 2: No need to get loud, sweetheart. You thought Santa delivered presents to all over the world?
Child: On Christmas Eve.
Lawyer 2: So it takes a jet going 700 miles per hour, six hours just to fly across one country, and you thought eight tiny 10)reindeer could 11)lug this big 12)sled all over the world in one night? Isn’t that a little 13)dopey to think that, Jacob?
Child: Well...
Lawyer 2: Can we talk about the size of Santa’s bag? That little 14)sack has enough toys for 300 million children? Are you 15)retarded, Jacob?
Lawyer 3: 16)Objection!
Lawyer 2: I’m just trying to find out what the boy believed. He seems really smart. (to the kid) You really thought one fat old man living on the North Pole was making toys for every single child on earth to be carried in one bag, one sleigh, delivered in one night?
Child: Well, I know it’s a little 17)dubious...
Lawyer 2: How about, “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake”?
Child: Yeah, I always kind of wondered about that.
Lawyer 2: “Knows if you’ve been bad or good”?
Child: Umm...
Lawyer 2: What about 18)Rudolph’s nose cutting through the fog?
Child: Oh, I never believed that.
Lawyer 2: Ever wonder why all those toys Santa makes with his midget friends look exactly like the ones you see at Toy’s-R-Us?
Child: It’s a little suspicious.
Lawyer 2: And what does Santa do when he gets to 19)Florida? Lots of snow there for his sleigh, right, Jacob?
Lawyer 1: Objection!
Lawyer 2: Jacob, you seem intelligent. I want you to tell us what you really think of the idea of Santa Claus?
Child: It’s stupid!
Lawyer 1: (concluding) Where was the evidence that any child got hurt? Well, Mr. Stark called his own grandson into action. But the reality is that when kids do get hurt on this, it doesn’t go to reveal that there’s no Santa Claus. It’s to reveal that maybe their parents lied to them. Kendall Stevens, he was really 20)counseling children not to feel 21)betrayed by this 22)deception. And he was also saying, let your parents 23)indulge this 24)illusion. But why? Well, because the fact is that we need Santa Claus much more than kids do. We’re out there living in the real world and it’s 25)harsh. We’re exposed to ugly truths. We bear witness to evidence that dreams don’t always come true, and when December comes along, it’s nice. It’s nice to 26)cling to Santa and all he represents to relive the 27)innocence of childhood. To 28)recapture those feelings of joy and magic and song, things that have long since left us. Santa is a device for the parents sometimes to experience the love and the gift of a child. And we need it. What the child actually needs is love and trust and yes, the magic of his parents. And it was that 29)sacred 30)union which Kendall Stevens was trying to safeguard with his broadcast. Knowing that a child 31)craves the honesty of Mom and Dad a hell of a lot more than he needs the illusion of old Saint Nick coming down a chimney. The 32)severance of parent and child and their 33)mutual trust, that’s the tragedy Kendall Stevens was trying to address. He decides to tell the world there’s no Santa Claus. He exposes the station to tremendous bad will and he does so knowing that it is against the wishes and interests of the station. He 34)violates the trust of his employer. So of course we have the right to35)terminate him.
