One woman is issuing a PSA about mall Santa Clauses after an alleged creepy incident.
In a viral TikTok video that has racked up over 1.1 million views on TikTok as of Monday, user Ken (@_kickitkenny_9) recalled the time a family photo with Santa turned sour when the man would not stop insisting that she sit on his lap.
“Can we all agree on the fact that the Santa Clauses that you sit on their laps are creepy?” the woman asked in the clip.
She then went on to describe the encounter that left her feeling unsettled.
“POV: Fake Santas are pedos,” text overlaid on the clip read.
Apparently, Ken went to her local mall to take a holiday family photo along with her grandparents, aunt, uncle, and baby cousin. When the crew gathered for the photo, Ken said she opted to sit on an empty chair instead of on Santa’s lap next to her little cousin. That’s when she said things got “creepy.”
“Aw, please come sit on my lap,” Santa reportedly told the young woman when she refused an invitation to get closer to him.
And the interaction only got stranger from there.
“After we took the photo, we started to go down the stairs and he goes, ‘You can’t leave until you sit on my lap,'” the woman reported.
@_kickitkenny_9 he was old as dirt and old men creep me out. i just can’t get behind the idea of it especially after today 🤮
♬ original sound – ken
That’s when she decided to explicitly tell him that she had absolutely no intention of sitting on his lap. Yet, she said the man still didn’t back off.
“Well, you’re not gonna get what you want for Christmas if you don’t come sit on my lap,” the Santa reportedly said, trying to pressure the woman into compliance with his request.
To make matters worse, a woman dressed as Mrs. Claus (who the TikToker believes was the man’s wife) got into the mix and also tried to pressure her into sitting on Santa.
“She was like, ‘Why don’t you wanna sit on his lap?'” Ken said.
The whole ordeal made the TikToker conclude that mall Santas should be avoided at all costs.
“He was old as dirt and old men creep me out,” Ken wrote in the clip’s caption. “I just can’t get behind the idea of it especially after today.”
It seems like she isn’t the only person with reservations about the men who work as Santa Clauses during the holidays.
“I was always scared of the mall santa’s,” user Max wrote.
“My kids will NEVER and I repeat NEVER sit on a mall Santa’s lap,” another user added.
“As a kid I always was so uncomfortable going to visit Santa and Easter bunny,” user Jasmine commented.
The Daily Dot reached out to Ken for comment via email.