Racial tensions are running high in New York in the wake of the death of Eric Garner at the hands of a police officer – and people have been up in arms at the decision to sing the song ‘White Christmas’ at the city’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Former Hootie and the Blowfish singer Darius Rucker sang the song at the Rockefeller Center this week – and it was immediately seized on as a racist choice.

Darius Rucker singing White Christmas in Rockefeller Center. One block over, streets shut down for Eric Garner. Utterly surreal. — Rich Villar (@elprofe316) December 4, 2014

Somehow, I just watched Darius Rucker sing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" on national television mere feet away from the protest — Jeremy D. Larson (@jeremydlarson) December 4, 2014

Right-wing commentators, in turn, took this as evidence that left-wingers all thought the song was racist – and duly Tweeted their outrage, in even more unpleasant terms.




Composer Irving Berlin, a Russian Jew who died in 1989, would doubtless have been confused over the controversy.

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The song, written in 1940, is not intended to have any racial content whatsoever – it’s a nostalgic song about past Christmasses, and the ‘white’ part is meant to be snow.

The Bing Crosby version of the song is thought to be the best-selling single of all time, having sold 50 million copies worldwide.