Education

Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Politically Correct’ Thanksgiving School Pageant

By Mark Walsh — November 22, 2016 1 min read
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We all remember the school Thanksgiving pageants of our youth. The Pilgrims. The Indians. Construction-paper hats.

But Thanksgiving folklore has come in for greater scrutiny in recent years. On Monday night’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC, the late-night host offered the “Politically Correct Thanksgiving Pageant.”

“We thought it might be a good idea to update the story to reflect our modern sensitivities,” Kimmel told viewers as he introduced students from Edward James Olmos Elementary School (which I’m pretty sure is not a real school, but a tribute to the “Stand and Deliver” actor, since all the students seemed to me like polished child actors).

Watch for references to indigenous people, non-indigenous people, safe spaces, gender identity, locally sourced feasts, generic higher powers, maize allergies, trigger alerts, Tofurky, and micro-aggressions.

As the kids say, have a happy, non-confrontational Thanksgiving!

A version of this news article first appeared in the Education and the Media blog.