'Bad Santa' fired from Christmas gig in Penticton mall for 'inappropriate photos'
Credit to Author: Kevin Griffin| Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2019 00:44:37 +0000
A Santa Claus whose photos were deemed naughty rather than nice has lost his Christmas gig in a Penticton mall.
Gary Haupt expected to be part of the annual arrival of Santa on a firetruck at Cherry Lane Shopping Centre on Saturday. He had been hired to play Santa for several days at the mall until the evening of Dec. 23.
Instead, he said the mall considered two photographs he posted on social media as claus for dismissal.
“I don’t think they’re dirty,” he said. “I don’t think they’re inappropriate. I posted them because they’re people in our community.”
Postmedia reached out to Cherry Lane for comment, but did not receive a response.
Haupt doesn’t take issue with someone not liking the photos. He said he encourages people to speak out if they don’t like something going on.
But this case, he said, is about leadership.
“Somewhere, somebody should have said, ‘This is not our business. This guy was on his own time, outside of his contract with us.’
Gary Haupt in his Santa Claus outfit is shown holding his gloved hands in front of Michelle Prystay, a manicurist. She had just finished doing the nails of Haupt’s wife. They were taking a ‘silly photo’ of Santa showing off his nails after a manicure. Prystay said the positioning also looks otherwise but everyone thought it was hilarious. It was one of the photos posted on social media that resulted in Haupt being fired as Santa Claus from Cherry Lane Shopping Centre in Penticton.
“It had nothing to do with (the mall).”
One photo shows Haupt dressed as Santa standing behind a seated woman while putting his arms in front of her chest.
“It looks like I may be touching a woman’s breasts, but I’m not,” he said.
The woman in the photo is Michelle Prystay who operates VIP Mobile Spa.
“Being fired for this, I think, is ridiculous,” she said.
Prystay said she goes over every month to do the nails of Haupt’s wife.
“I was sitting there just finishing his wife’s nails. She grabbed the camera and took a few pictures of Gary and I posing and one silly picture,” she said.
The “silly picture” was Haupt putting his gloved hands in front of Prystay as if he was showing off his nails after a manicure.
“But the positioning looked otherwise. We thought: ‘That looks funny.’ Nobody was offended. We all thought it was hilarious.”
Prystay calls Haupt “an amazing human being” who jokes around with everybody.
In the other photo, it appears as if Haupt is drinking from a flask. Haupt said he couldn’t drink from it because the lid is on.
“No liquor passed my lips,” he said by phone.
Gary Haupt, a Penticton Santa-for-hire was fired from his Santa Claus role at a Penticton mall after posting what mall management said were "inappropriate" photos on social media. Above, Haupt poses in another photo.
Gary Haupt, a Penticton Santa-for-hire was fired from his Santa Claus role at a Penticton mall after posting what mall management said were "inappropriate" photos on social media. Above, Haupt poses in another photo.
November 28, 2019 – Gary Haupt, a Penticton Santa-for-hire was fired from his Santa Claus role at a Penticton mall after posting what mall management said were "inappropriate" photos on social media. Submitted. ORG XMIT: HRwlNALcAOiLGGrpUGl3 [PNG Merlin Archive]
November 28, 2019 – Gary Haupt, a Penticton Santa-for-hire was fired from his Santa Claus role at a Penticton mall after posting what mall management said were "inappropriate" photos on social media. Submitted. ORG XMIT: 44k0IV4leiRH_TzudJA- [PNG Merlin Archive]
Gary Haupt, a Penticton Santa-for-hire was fired from his Santa Claus role at a Penticton mall after posting what mall management said were "inappropriate" photos on social media. Above, Haupt poses in another light-hearted photo.
Gary Haupt, a Penticton Santa-for-hire was fired from his Santa Claus role at a Penticton mall after posting what mall management said were "inappropriate" photos on social media. Above, Haupt poses in another light-hearted photo.
Gary Haupt, a Penticton Santa-for-hire was fired from his Santa Claus role at a Penticton mall after posting what mall management said were "inappropriate" photos on social media. Above, Haupt poses in another light-hearted photo.
Gary Haupt, a Penticton Santa-for-hire was fired from his Santa Claus role at a Penticton mall after posting what mall management said were "inappropriate" photos on social media. Above, Haupt poses in another light-hearted photo.
Haupt started portraying Santa Claus in 1995 during his 37-year-long career as a bus driver in Metro Vancouver. He also volunteered as a Santa accompanying choirs at Royal Columbian Hospital. When he moved to Kitimat, he became a community Santa.
Being Santa Claus at a school, restaurant or private party usually means being in character for about an hour. But being Santa in a mall is much harder work because it means staying in character as jolly Saint Nick for up to eight hours.
He did it last year for the first time for one reason: money. This year, for example, he would have been paid $4,400 for 95 hours as Santa at Cherry Lane.
Haupt said he has no regrets about what he did, even though he would have liked a better ending. He said he has been amazed at the outpouring of community support.
“I’m just blown away,” he said.
Haupt admits he is stubborn.
“I don’t live my life in fear of what other people think of me,” he said. “If I think I’m right, I’m a real pain in the ass. If I’m wrong, I’m the guy who will go up and shake your hand and say I’m wrong.”