Harry Connick Pans "Blackface" Performers

(CBS)  The fallout Thursday morning from an Australian TV show is ranging from complaints that political-correctness has gone mad, to criticism that it made Australia look like the land that time forgot.

CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports that a group of spoof performers from Sydney, calling themselves the "Jackson Jive," stepped onto the variety show's stage - most of their faces painted jet-black and wearing fake afros.

The six are all physicians, and it was actually a repeat appearance for them on the show. They first donned the long-taboo blackface makeup to mock the Jackson Five on the show 20 years ago, as medical students.

Apparently no one noticed.

This time, however, celebrity judge Harry Connick Jr. rated the group's talent "0," and its taste, appalling.

"Man, if they turned up looking like that in the United States..." Connick said immediately after the Jackson Jive performance. He was visibly displeased.

Despite an apparent cultural divide with some of the other judges - at least one of whom rated the performance a far more generous 7 out of 10 - the program's host returned after a commercial break expressing regret.

"I think we may have offended you with that act and I deeply apologize," the show's host told Connick.

"Thanks, Daryl," replied the singer and song writer. "I just wanted to say on behalf of my country, I know it was done humorously, but we have spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that, we take it really to heart."

Connick went on to say that if he'd known about the skit in advance, he wouldn't have been on the show.

But he's not giving up his job as a judge on the program; and its producers, assuring there was no intent to cause offense, say the broadcast was a ratings hit.

[niteraider]

Connick needs to grow up. It is something that is almost as old as he is to stomp off the stage shows his maturity in the matter.
Sorry mates, but we don't want him here either that is why he was in your country.
Maybe Africa will offer him citizenship and then he can ***** about the living conditions and not getting everything that his pampered arse wants.

[antijive]

Too many Yanks are desperate for moral one-upmanship and are too ignorant and too arrogant to stop projecting their own crap onto this. Consider that Mr. H. C. Junior's biggest appearance in Australia was going to be at a shopping mall in Sydney.

Has anyone considered the likelihood that he has alleged rascism in order to snatch a bit of world-wide relevance? I saw about forty seconds of the skit in question on Youtube and had to turn it off, not because it seemed rascist. It just seemed absolutely stupid and unfunny and a waste of time watching. Much like "Hey Hey It's Saturday".

I don't see why brown skinned people felt the need to make their faces black, when they were already as brown skinned as the Jackson Five but let's face it ... if you see Al Jolson or typical "black & white minstrels" and see this piece of witless banality by "Jackson Jive" you will see a difference.

You can project rascism onto this if you really, desperately need some moral indignation to inflate yourself on but basically, Jolson or no Jolson, if it is acceptable for Mr Junior to nugget up and imitate black people, and if it is acceptable for Eddie Murphy to imitate white people as part of a comedy thing, then it is acceptable for brown people to imitate black people as part of a comedy thing.

The gods know, Australia has plenty to answer for. Steve Irwin, Paul Hogan, Barry McKenzie and the totality of Hey Hey It's Saturday are just a beginning. Anyone who starts shrieking on with the anti-Australian crap because of this is a moral pissant pretending to be a giant.

[vr041]

You know, Americans should remember an old saying "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".

There has been a national uproar about a 5 minute "tongue in cheek segment" where very little money changed hands which had absolutely no merchandise to it and was a one off show with no royalties or long lasting effects.

If you want to talk about overt racism America, then look no further than yourself in the form of Transformers 2.

I refer of course to the characters, or should I say, demeaning caricatures of Skids and Mudflap right down to the gold teeth, a vernacular that consisted almost entirely of ebonics, constant buffoonery and illiteracy.

Yet Michael Bay is still making movies and action figures of these characters continue to be sold by the thousands.

If America did genuinely feel outraged by racism in all its forms, especially with entertainment, then there'd have been a boycott by american perents of every single toy made by hsbro and of every single Paramount/Universal production, until such time as Michael Bay was no longer hired by them and publicly apologised and hasbro recalled every single Skids and Mudflap figure and apologised for producing them.

But hey, I guess that would require genuinely consistent outrage to racism, as opposed to the typical scapegoating hypocritical denial which makes America the America that the world loves to hate.

[Oz_girl13]

WOW you guys, alot of these messages/accusations are crazy. I know people are highly emotive over the issue but please dont generalize. I'm an Aussie and I've spent some time in the USA, including New Orleans. I loved my time there, America is a great place with a very rich history of which i was not able to fully appreciate until i went there. I have to admit, i had no idea of what 'black-face' was nor its historical connotations and I'm afraid most Australian wouldn't have either. Having had the pleasure of spending time traveling around your country i understood how the skit would offend Americans. Harry Connick Jr was quiet cordial in his response and i believe he handled it quiet well. From an Australian perspective i believe the skit was NOT meant to parody black people in a satirical light, the face-paint was merely apart of a costume. This is not an excuse for any offense that was caused to Harry, or American viewers. Its merely expressing the position of a culture who had no connection to 'black-face' and therefore didn't foresee its effect.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry that the skit was even allowed on T.V, and i do believe there was no intent whatsoever from Australia to facilitate a 'racist' response.
There is a real difference in cultural sensitivities between all nations. Things that were acceptable in the US would not be acceptable here and like wise. Unless you've stepped outside your soapbox and explored the big wide world you really wouldn't understand. The point is i wouldn't attempt to generalize that a whole populations shares and acknowledged what is offensive in each nation. Its just not possible. Contrary to popular opinion, Australia really doesn't know that much about America and vice versa.
Now, to all my Aussie folk, i love you guys for your passionate banding together to protect the good old relaxed Aussie spirit, but take a moment to consider where the Americans are coming from. Accept that they have every right to feel insulted. On the same token can the Americans please understand that Australians never understood the ramifications as most couldn't contextualize what was shown, which was to be honest, crap entertainment.

I see everyone go back and forth attacking each other and i think back to the tragedy of 911. Every Aussie on here was donating to charity and doing anything they could to support the Americans. And we'd do it again, anytime you needed us.
Likewise the Americans saved our butts from the Japanese attacks in Darwin and sent us aid in our bush-fires last season. And i believe they would always help us in time of crisis.

Anyways we should agree to disagree and let lessons be learned.

Americans were offended - Australians were not, and never intended to offend.

Now ... group hug :-D

Well, there always hope.

[luckycountry]

There really are a lot of ignorant racist comments against Australia here, and I'm betting most who made them have never been here and wouldn't have a clue. I won't mention the KKK, slavery, segregation ... oops, sorry. People blacking their faces, the connentation in America being largely unknown here, is sooo much worse so we must hang our head in shame. I even read someone pointing out that we have all the Sth African immigrants and so we have racism. Oh really! Have you ever heard such drivel? If we took notice of people 'trying to correct black buffoonery' ????? where would we be?

[blackthesky]

we don't need a history lesson about your country, we have our own history. some people here just don't get it, or don't want to. this is an australian show, shown to aussies, is that too hard to understand? our black history is different than yours, ok? we are a different country, i know thats hard for you to understand that there are other countries besides america in the world. those countries all do things differently, their histories a different than yours too, why can't you understand and take that into account before critisizing people you know nothing about?

the people in this act did not appear with thick white painted lips, or big staring eyes like in the 'blackface' days. no, these people simply made their skin darker because the jackson 5 have darker skin than a caucasian, and they were 'impersonating' the jackson 5. the character of michael had lighter skin, as in real life thats what he had.
i am not interested in what has happened to your black people, that is for you to remember, and you to regret, not australians. you are really showing your ignorance with this one.

[scubbasteve01]

So are all of you in Australia are painfully unaware of the history of slavery here in America? HELLO? Jungle monkey? ******? Hello? That the confederate flag represents the Klu Klux Klan? Who participated in the murders of blacks and whites from the civil war to the civil rights movement? That?s over 200 years of homegrown terrorism.
Segregation? To be forced to sit in the back of the bus? Leaving your house one day and perhaps with the chance to never be seen alive again the next day?
Trash-man, custodian and shoe shine boy?
So in the 1850 Blacks were thought of as a dying race and Charles Darwin was an idiot as well as a racist for coming up with a book called the Origin Of Species about this so called social evolution about along with some scholars who assume that society has it?s place where white people are at the top and Black people are supposed to be on the bottom. An 1859 book that still represents racial intolerance but when this is mixed with terrorism and murder like it was in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee with the Klan then this kind of ideology breeds genocide.
It is particularly disturbing to know that British and Australian scientists would go out of there way to grave rob and destroy the resting places of about 10,000 people and raid their body parts for a scientific trade. Which is no different here in America in the past to hunt blacks and not just treat them like animals but to kill them like they were animals.
So just like the blacks were systematically wiped out here In America the same was done in Australia in 1788. That?s one hell of a thing sentencing 300,000 people in a prison colony don?t you think? Is it just a coincidence that some of Australia?s history about it?s blacks resembles some of America?s history? Poor housing, jobs and school districts?
Blacks couldn?t vote in elections until 1961? They weren?t declared citizens until after a so-called constitutional amendment in 1967.
In Africa blacks are referred to as KAFFIR BOYS or as it is known in America.
******. So what are they called in Australia? So blacks weren?t considered to be human beings until the 1960?s? Because of a constitutional amendment?
The next time you guys check the facts about racism here in America look them up along with the civil rights movement, the history of the Klu Klux Klan and you will see a mirror image of what was done in your country.
This by no means is funny at all. To walk around in black face is the act of a racist pig.
It wasn?t funny when Al Jolson did it and it isn?t funny now.

[RobinCru]

The idea of that show was usually for people to do something pretty grotesque and get as low a score as possible.
So the act was very successful in those terms.
The guy playing Michael was a dark skinned Indian/Australian plastic surgeon with his face painted white.
So for the doctors who did it, it was about irony, not race.
They were not trying to make buffoons of black people. They were trying to make buffoons of themselves.

This kind of layered irony though would be utterly confusing for 99.9% of US citizens and Harry Connick was totally out of the loop there. He responded in the only way he could manage.

The way the US media picked it up is logical, but utterly clueless.

It's easy to see why US people can't conceive why such a skit would possibly appear on Australian broadcast TV. Just the same way as Australians can't conceive why a nation would possibly ever have had a vicious civil war where one half was actually fighting FOR slavery.

The UK has made similar ghastly mistakes in their past - marching along in subjugated and enslaved colonies around the world with their bands playing HAIL BRITANNIA, ENGLAND NEVER NEVER NEVER SHALL BE SLAVES. Both the US and UK have these horrendous histories and you are both still reeling from them.
Anything that goes anywhere near racial vilification is absolutely taboo. And with your pasts so it should be.

Australians don't have that damage, those scars and that shame.

We've got our own issues and complex history. And it's totally different from yours.


Also - While we're on the subject of Michael Jackson...and 'inconceivable' issues...how come the US practically hounded him to death (it really is a miracle he didn't commit suicide years ago) then you all fell about with love and adoration after he died?

This behaviour is equally inconceivable to the casual observer outside the US.

[scottyfromAus]

Some of you Americans really need to just get over yourselves. Calling an entire group of people racist is racist and an oxymoron. I have nothing against Harry Connick's comments as he said he found it offense because of his culture and history which he had every entitlement to be. While many Australians may a very rough idea of American culture and history, that is all it is. To expect every member of Australia (or any country) to have knowledge of your country's history is CULTURAL IMPERIALISM. And just because some people in Australia's past have done racist things in a different and unrelated CONTEXT does not make a country racist.

What people in the foreign media have said subsequently is quite ignorant. As some have already pointed out the people who did this "skit" are people of ethnic migrant heritage, not that should make much difference. But adds that spicy irony!

Just because you quickly read half a page on wikipedia does not mean you understand anything about Australia's history or race relations.

Ironically comparing aborigines to African Americans i personally find racist. Aborigines and African Americans have little in common. The relationship in historic context would be far more appropriate to compare to the NATIVE AMERICANS. But alas native Americans do not have dark skin for simplistic fools to understand.

Are there racist people in Australia? Yes. Most countries do have racist people in them. I do not know of a country that does not have acts of racism. Be it to the Hmongs in Laos or the Algerians in France.

[SteveAussie]

I doubt the act would have been any less offensive 20 years ago but in 2009, media travels fast? and what a great story. It?s bound to have people talking about it until the next news cycle, which will probably be some politician saying something stupid.

I think Hey Hey was focusing too much on calling back Red Faces contestants from many years ago to consider the true content of the acts.

I watched the show go out live and although I was not offended, I felt uncomfortable, even as an Anglo Aussie. But I think we need to consider the intention behind the act; I doubt they were trying to make any kind of political or racial statement but I don?t understand how it can be considered a Jackson tribute either; it wasn't exactly flattering. There was no talent for singing or dancing, and there were no gags, so the only thing that differentiated the act from a group of guys milling around a studio was the black (and white) faces. It?s no wonder people took offence to it.

The show was meant for Australian consumption, only, so although people outside of Australia should certainly express their opinion, they don?t have any power to control what gets broadcast here, and do they really care?... I mean really?... However, if I was producer of the Red Faces segment, I would not have put the act to air. It?s not difficult to imagine that many people would find it offensive but the true tragedy is that the act just wasn?t funny. Hasn?t comedy moved on from Music Hall? What was the act trying to achieve?

If Michael had appeared as a Zombie, that truly would have been offensive!

The Hey Hey it?s Saturday act was naïve and thoughtless but relatively harmless. We put worse things to air. Far more offensive and damaging was Kyle Sandiland?s radio stunt, during which he strapped a teenage girl to a lie detector and proceeded to have THE GIRL?S MOTHER probe her about her sexual experiences; the girl finally admitting that she was sexually abused! Why is that show still on air??

Australia is culturally diverse but I don?t think it is any more or less racist than most countries. We?re certainly fumbling through our issues, particularly with Aboriginal reconciliation, but Australia being one of the most urban countries on earth (and that is true ? Most of us live in cities), we are quite accepting of many cultures. The media will always beat up these kinds of stories. It?s important that people rely on their own interactions and experiences with Australians to help them form their opinions about how racist we really are.

One last thought: Although they have little in common with African Americas or the thankfully virtually dead theatrical tradition of ?blackface?, I?d like to know what Australian Aborigines thought of the Red Faces act, since it was broadcast into their homes.