KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE — A Santa Claus impersonator accused by skeptics in the media of lying about a terminally-ill child dying in his arms is sticking by his story today.

Eric Schmitt-Matzen’s heartwarming tale about a sick 5-year-old boy getting his final wish to see Santa before he died went viral this week after it was first published by Knoxville Sentinel News columnist Sam Venable.

Schmitt-Matzen later cried in front of television cameras as he recalled telling the boy that when he got to heaven, “He should tell ’em he was Santa’s No. 1 elf, and they’d be sure to let him in.”

Some media killjoys dismissed the story as “fake news,” despite being too lazy to get off their asses and check the facts for themselves. They said the dates didn’t add up and they wanted hard evidence, regardless of the boy’s family’s right to privacy.

Snopes.com was among the doubters, saying the story was unproven.

But Eric Schmitt-Matzen has no reason to lie, and NBC-affiliate WBIR now says it has independently verified several critical details in the story.

Schmitt-Matzen has promised to protect the anonymity of the boy’s family and the nurse who called him to the hospital, in case she loses her job for breaking protocol.

Unlike his accusers, the Santa Claus impersonator has honored the memory of a little boy who knew all about the excitement of Christmas, but couldn’t fully understand that he would not get to experience another one.