West Village YMCA axes Santa Claus for Frosty

By SUSANNAH CAHALAN and CYNTHIA R. FAGEN
December 12, 2010

He's a lost Claus.

A politically correct West Village YMCA has fired Ol' St. Nick in favor of Frosty.

Kids who once thrilled at sitting on Santa's lap at the 14th Street McBurney YMCA's wildly popular annual holiday luncheon will now suffer the icy embrace of a talking snowman and his sidekick, an anonymous penguin, at today's event.

Forget about bringing a list or checking it twice -- Frosty doesn't take gift requests, and doesn't care if you're naughty or nice.

YMCA officials, who say they are in the midst of "rebranding" the Young Men's Christian Association to "The Y," defended their decision. the rest

A chilly reception greeted the news that the YMCA -- an organization founded to spread Christian values in 1844 -- was replacing the Christmas icon with a secular cartoon character.