People generally agree that the colors of Christmas are red and green, but what color is Santa Claus? The race of Santa Claus has recently become the talk of the town with everyone from suburban teachers, Megyn Kelly, Steven Colbert and everyday Americans picking a color.

A teacher in Albuquerque was recently suspended after telling a black student he could not be Santa because of his race. Christopher Rougier, a Cleveland High School student, had the choice of dressing up as either an elf, reindeer or Kris Kringle himself. The ninth-grader chose Santa, but his costume was met with negative response.

"Don't you know Santa Claus is white? Why are you wearing that?" Michael Rougier, Christopher's father, claims his son's teacher said.

Meanwhile, a black writer named Aisha Harris wrote an article called "Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore," arguing that Santa is more of a penguin. In response, Megyn Kelly, a Fox News anchor, cleared up the debate for children everywhere.

"And, by the way, for all of you kids watching at home, Santa just is white, but this person is arguing maybe we should also have a black Santa, but, you know, Santa is what he is, and so, you know, we're just debating this because someone wrote about it, kids," Kelly said. "... I mean, Jesus was a white man too. He was a historical figure; that's a verifiable fact -- as is Santa. I want you kids watching to know that."

Later, Kelly said that she was just joking, but perhaps she should leave the jokes to Stephen Colbert.

"Fox News elf Megyn Kelly was there to put things in black and white...but mostly white," Colbert said sarcastically on The Colbert Report. "For all those kids watching Fox News at 9:30 at night, Santa is white ... By the way, for any kids watching at 11:30 at night, Martin Luther King is black, and he is real."

Intellectuals also seem to think that Kelly's remarks are laughable.

"Saint Nicholas is born into a family that probably considered itself to be ethnically Greek but in an area of the world that we now call Turkey," Laura Nasrallah, Harvard University professor, told POLITICO. "Historically, you can't import a category like 'white' into fourth century Asia minor."

According to a new poll, however, Americans are pretty divided on the color war -- in a gray area, so to speak. Public Policy Polling (which POLITICO describes as "Democratic-leaning") surveyed 741 registered voters from Dec. 13 to Dec. 17. The survey revealed that 32 percent of Americans think Santa is white, 36 percent think Santa is not white and 32 percent are unsure.

But does it really matter? Most people do not even believe in Santa; in the poll, 50 percent denied his existence, while 43 percent still believe.

If you want to get really argumentative, you can debate over to which party Santa is registered. In PPP's survey, 20 percent of participants said Saint Nick is a Republican, 33 percent said Santa is a Democrat and 47 percent were not sure.

Santa Claus, however, is most likely a member of the Green party. After all, the party is named after one of the only colors of Christmas not sparking debate.

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