Exclusive: Kinder, Gentler Prancer?

Nearly eight months after being fired for making a disparaging remark about Santa, Prancer returned to the North Pole at 6 a.m. yesterday and vowed he would not say anything like it again.

"I was a good reindeer who said a bad thing," said Prancer, aka the third reindeer, in comments to the AEPC (the Associated Elves Press Club). Prancer was terminated in April after comments he made about his employer being a, "nappy-headed ho, ho, ho-er."

It is purported that Prancer, in a state of post-holiday blues, made the comment after seeing Santa Claus wearing dreadlocks while touring the new North Pole Package Management Facility. In an exclusive interview to air this Thursday, Prancer talks with Barbara Walters about the ordeal.

"The big guy and I talked for hours," he told Walters. "It took a while for everybody at the North Pole to get down to talk about how they felt. I told them about who I was and what my life was about, but I could see that I wasn't getting through."

"This had so much impact on them, because it was made such a huge deal. I had people say to me, 'Well, if the elves hadn't have blown it up, if Rudolph hadn't exposed such light on the situation then. …' I said, 'nonsense.'"

"The point was, it got to the point where they were, in fact, distraught about it. Vixen and Donder both said it's heartbreaking, and Comet said to me, 'you know, it's just so upsetting.' I just kept thinking over and over again, 'thank God that I'm here and I'm here because I want to be here. I'm not here just trying to save my big time job.'"

When asked by Walters why he decided to return to the North Pole, Prancer said, "If Imus can have the courage to return to the air, then I should be able to return to the air too. I just want to be the best reindeer I can possibly be---to get all those presents to good little boys and girls on time."

While Santa has yet to publicly comment on Prancer's return, The Reverend Al Sharpton said, "Whether he’s sincere or not, time will tell.” Sharpton added, "We will be monitoring."