Scott Diethorne, aka Santa Scott, has been working as Santa Claus at Philadelphia area malls for twenty years. He’s not your typical Santa, as he’s known for posing in photos with children while displaying his “Naughty” and “Nice” forearm tattoos. In one picture (seen below of just him), taken by Amanda Nagy, you can see Santa Scott holding her two pet snakes in each hand. He’s metal AF.
In addition to showing his ink, Santa Scott would also hang children upside down in photos upon request.
Apparently, his charismatic behavior has been rocking the mall sleigh a little too hard. This past week Santa Scott was asked by the peeps in charge at Oxford Valley Mall to stop displaying his tattoos in photos and to refrain from hanging children upside down. According to Philly.com, they issued this statement: “We remain dedicated to preserving the tradition and image of Santa with authentic holiday visits for every guest to our programs.” Bah effing Humbug.
Amanda Nagy is making her case known to support Santa Scott. Here’s a snippet from her Facebook post about this whole ordeal:
“Everyone needs to go on Oxford Valley Mall & HolidayMoments Facebook pages & complain that Santa Scott needs to be able to do what the public wants! This new photo company won’t allow him to show his tattoos anymore, do fun poses, etc! If you guys know him, you know this is all of the stuff he is known for – bring our Santa back!!! If you don’t know him, here’s last years pic & check out his page for all of the fun stuff he’s done in previous years.”
The good news is that people are still showing up to see Santa Scott, perhaps more now than ever. You know what they say – bad publicity is good publicity.
Show Santa Scott some love by following him and leaving him a comment on his Facebook page.
