Hey Hey It's Saturday In Red Faces Racist Row

I awoke this morning to news of 5 people who painted there faces on a "talent" show and the uproar that followed the act.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,26181031-10229,00.html

The radio station I listen to has been all over it this morning, talking about nothing else. To say they and most Australians are horrified is not a strong enough emotion or description.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/enterta...r-jackson-5-skit/story-e6frf96f-1225784042163

 

Most of the voters in the sidebar poll supported the skit, something further reflected in the comments section. According to some readers racism is primarily an "American thing", which lets Aussies off the hook.

As usual, the offending party is the one who sees nothing wrong with using racist caricatures as a form of entertainment. It doesn't even register as racist.

 

wtg @ harry connick jr

 

That's some real BS right there...

 

Agreed. The "offenders" are now defending themselves with the excuse of their nationalities...

Dr Anand Deva, who played Michael Jackson in the skit, said the act was meant to be a tribute to Michael Jackson.
"It certainly was not meant to be racist in any way at all,'' Dr Deva said.
"I think he (Connick) is taking it the wrong way.''Dr Diva said the group had tried to find Connick after the show to set him straight and apologise.
"I suspect things are probably a bit different in America in terms of what that (black face) means,'' he said.
"I understand the history of the black face but certainly it was not construed in that way at all.''
Dr Deva said that had the Hey Hey It's Saturday producers said the skit may be offensive he and his friends wouldn't have done it.
"All six of us discussed this at length whether or not we should put this on because we realised it may be controversial,'' he said.
"We did go to the trouble of checking with the production staff and they seemed to ok it.''
Dr Deva said he and his friends came from ethnic backgrounds and were all too aware of racism.
"Two of us come from India and one of us comes from Lebanon so we can't afford to be racist to be honest,'' he said. "If we did offend him (Connick) we truly didn't meant to.''
Viewers were quick to criticise the stunt on Twitter. Among them comedian Dave Hughes who wrote: "Harry Connick Jr is wishing he didn't agree to be on Hey Hey right now."
Another user wrote: "Is it racist for white folks to paint their faces black? I agree that Hey Hey is embarrasing and distasteful."

 

It is big news here. I saw it on the Yahoo page.

 

It is wrong on so many level. The producers of the show should not have let them go on air with that garbage. I guess if was not for Connick nobody would have said shit then? Wow. The funny thing is Connick has done some skit appearing as black preacher in Mad TV back in '90s. lol, would that make him a hypocrite?
Anyways, one of the member of this stupid singing group said, "we are not racist, we are ethnic doctors, two of us are from India and one is from Lebanon, therefore, we can't be racist". That is a horse shit, I have seen doctors from these exact ethinc back ground being racist toward blacks here in America as well as in Africa. So don't give me that bullshit excuse.

 

Yes the Australian media are now all over HCJ because of his past "appearances" and calling him out on it as well, so he's stopped all press appearances. And you are right, if he hadn't of said anything the show would of gone on without so much as a word about it. Its just so outrageous and embarrassing that it was allowed to go on!!!

 

maybe if black entertainers stopped insulting white people in forms of media, some of them would stop insulting black people through similar avenues?

there are more hypocrites out there than Harry Connick

while he may have actually walked the walk, others have sat back on idle and let similar acts proliferate, regardless of color

 

Harry Connick Jr is not a hypocrite.

1. There is a huge difference between blackface and simply playing someone who is Black.

2. The character he played on Mad TV, at least from the reports I have seen, was a southern preacher, not necessarily a Black southern preacher.

3. There is a huge difference between blackface and simply playing someone who is Black. I'm just repeating it, cause the guys who did this & their supporters don't seem to understand what it was they did, or are pretending they don't.