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| Hey Hey It's Saturday "Jackson Jive" | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 8 2009, 03:14 AM (325 Views) | |
| Sayf Udeen Ismaeel | Oct 8 2009, 03:14 AM Post #1 |
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ
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Uproar Over Hey Hey Blackfaces Sketch Hey Hey It's Saturday's controversial "blackfaces" skit on last night's second reunion show has sparked an international media storm and triggered debate about whether or not Australia is a racist country. The Jackson Jive skit — involving five men covered in black face paint and black wigs dancing alongside a white-faced Michael Jackson impersonator — appeared on the Red Faces segment, 20 years after it was shown on the original Hey Hey. Last night's show was a ratings triumph for the Nine Network, luring 2.73 million people — 90,000 more than last week — at its peak but the controversy has overshadowed its success. US singer Harry Connick Junior, a guest judge on the show, was outraged by the "blackfaces" sketch, giving it a zero before saying if it had ever appeared on US television the show would have been terminated. Worldwide media have backed Connick Jr, with some reports describing Australia as racist and others saying the sketch was "vile" and "ridiculous". Marina Hyde from Britain's Guardian newspaper described Australia was "the world's most savagely self-parodic country," and introduced the skit as, "news of an important breakthrough in race relations". Hyde, who has often expressed a low opinion of Australia in her columns, went onto to scorn host Daryl Somers for his reaction to the skit. "If you take a look at the mind-boggling video clip, you will note that we rejoin the show after the break, during which the host seems to have had a somewhat unconvincing epiphany ... very good of him," Hyde wrote. "In Australia, of course, [blacking up] is perfectly acceptable, and we thank the nation for yet another important contribution to the annals of human culture." US magazine Newsweek said Somers "looked genuinely surprised" after Connick Junior told the audience: "If I knew that was going to part of the show, I definitely wouldn't have done it." Blogger Kyra Kyles from Chicago Now said the sketch was "absolutely damn ridiculous ... [one of the] dumbest things I've seen." Kyles gave "big ups to [Connick Jr] for reading these clueless fools the riot act". "Shame on the host and the other judges for trying to act like this performance was acceptable in any part of the world," she wrote. "I seriously had to look at the calendar to see if I had somehow gone on a really bad time travel a la HG Wells. "I'm too disgusted to write anymore." David Schmader from The Stranger posted a video of Connick Jr's reaction to the sketch on the blog, with most of the replies to his post saying Australians were racist. "The casual racism of a lot of Australians beggars belief ... they're thirty years behind us in some ways," user Fnarf replied. "Agreed ... I visited there a while back and was pretty stunned ... white Australians don't get it," STJA wrote. Others said Australia had more prejudices than Americans: "Good on Connick. That piece is quite vile." Schmader later made another blog post titled: "Australians: Post-Race Miracle Humans or Racist Idiots?" before publishing comments from people who supported the sketch. One of the replies said: "There is nothing racist about this ... it is a parody only of the Jackson Five, not black people in general. "Quite besides that, Michael Jackson hasn't been black in a long time ... race and skin colour are simply not of any significance to us here." Host Daryl Somers apologised to Connick Jr on-air saying he realised it was "an insult to have a blackface routine like that on the show". "I think we may have offended you with that act and I deeply apologise on behalf of all of us," Somers said. A spokesperson for Hey Hey It's Saturday could not be reached for comment. The frontman for the skit — prominent Sydney-based plastic surgeon — Dr Anand Deva has apologised but said it is ironic he is being called racist, given his Indian background. "Clearly, all of us want to apologise. I mean we have offended some people no doubt, particularly Harry Connick Jr. So I want to say on behalf of all of us that this was really not intended ... (to be) anything to do with racism at all," he told Fairfax Radio Network. Dr Deva further defended the act by saying the group of doctors were from multicultural backgrounds and were huge Michael Jackson fans. "I am an Indian, and five of the six of us are from multicultural backgrounds and to be called a racist ... I don't think I have ever been called that ever in my life before," Dr Deva said. "Anyone who knows us as a group, we are intelligent people, we are all from different racial backgrounds so I am really truly surprised." Asked if he would have done the same skit in America, Dr Deva replied, "Absolutely not". Wednesday's broadcast was the second of two reunion shows for Hey Hey, which went off air in 1999, and talk has circulated about bringing the show back. Last Wednesday's reunion broadcast peaked at 2.640 million across the five major city markets. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/872955/uproar-over-hey-hey-blackfaces-sketch |
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| Freki | Oct 8 2009, 03:53 AM Post #2 |
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Hmm. What a bunch of idiots for doing that - but at the same time, Australia doesn't have as much awareness of the history of blackface ... still amazingly offensive, of course. However, all the Americans yapping on can just fuck off - we're thirty years behind a country that has their president referred to as "Barack the Magic Negro" by popular radio hosts? |
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| Cobby | Oct 8 2009, 04:08 AM Post #3 |
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Lol I can't help but appreciate the irony of accusing Australia of being prejudice because of the action of a small handfull of people... Fucking aussie's, they're all the bloody same aren't they! |
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| gingerwitch28 | Oct 8 2009, 04:51 AM Post #4 |
twenty-first century ennui
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I read an article in which Americans and Brits were calling us racist - ironic when the Americans have the KKK and the Birther movement, and the Brits have the British National Party aka British Nazi Party representing them in the European Parliament. |
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| Sayf Udeen Ismaeel | Oct 8 2009, 10:42 AM Post #5 |
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Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ
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Readers says Hey Hey's Jackson Jive skit 'not racist'
DARYL Somers called the Hey Hey It's Saturday Reunion Special's Jackson Jive skit a "storm in teacup" - and it seems readers agree. An overwhelming 69 per cent of readers who voted in online News Ltd polls across Australia said the skit – which featured four men with blackened faces wearing afro wigs miming to the Jackson Five’s Can You Feel It – was neither racist nor tasteless. Almost 30,000 people voted and more than 1500 left comments after Hey Hey’s guest judge, American crooner Harry Connick Jr, said he would not have taken part in the show had he known about the performance. “Just another uptight American with no sense of humour. I would not be offended if five black men appeared on Red Faces with white paint on their faces,” Harry of Melbourne responded on heraldsun.com.au. “It seems just about everything these days is offensive. Well I am offended by the direction that our sense of humour is heading. Can't get anymore black and white than that,” wrote Mr Brown of Brisbane at news.com.au. The strongest reactions came from readers of PerthNow.com.au, where 81 per cent said the skit was not racist, and adelaidenow.com.au, where 80 per cent supported the skit. Results from other News Ltd sites were: • News.com.au - 72.2 per cent said the skit wasn't racist/tasteless • Dailytelegraph.com.au – 77 per cent said the skit wasn't racist/tasteless • Heraldsun.com.au – 76 per cent said the skit wasn't racist/tasteless • Couriermail.com.au – 53 per cent said the skit wasn't racist/tasteless. Tory Maguire, deputy editor of opinion site The Punch, where almost 500 readers left comments, said that the results to the national poll weren’t surprising. “While the skit was not the most offensive on recent Australian TV, it demonstrated how old-school and out of touch the producers of Hey Hey were,” she said. “The Australian public has grown up since the skit first aired 20 years ago. But the 2.5 million Australians who were watching last night were looking for nostalgia, so a returning act like the Jackson Jive was always going to appeal to them. “In spite of the large majority of respondents in the News Ltd-wide poll saying they did not find the skit offensive, many hundreds of people who commented on websites including The Punch were appalled at what they saw as blatant racism.” http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,26182943-10229,00.html What I've found though, in comments on Facebook and stuff is that a lot of people seem to think the only thing wrong with this skit is that it was so soon after Michael Jackson's death.  I thought it's been made clear the issue is in regards to the 'blackfaces' and a lack of sensativity to history, even if not our own.
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| Freki | Oct 8 2009, 11:45 AM Post #6 |
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Hmm. Polls find that 69% of people who watch Hey Hey It's Saturday are complete morons. I always suspected it was higher, tbh. Ugh @ Perth's results. Still in a redneck state, I guess. I hate how newspapers and news sites like to quote comments from users lately. Who cares what random fucking idiots on some website think? Ugh. ... "Harry" is a tool. Seriously. What nonsense - you, a member of the privileged group, would not feel offended? When there's no history of racist whiteface? Oh please. You can't make racist jokes. Cry me a fucking river. |
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| Cobby | Oct 8 2009, 03:33 PM Post #7 |
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I'm sure by now you've all seen the YouTube footage of Harry Connick Junior doing his own skit dressed as a black man lol. No one has actually given a detailed, intellectual explanation for what was offensive in particular about the skit. Really, being that racially sensitive is almost offensive in itself. It's as if dressing up like a black person is the equivalent to dressing up like a Nazi. People are so hung up on the past that they can't seem to see the social boundaries of the present. I don't recall seeing any puns about black people in this skit, just a handfull of people dressed like them. Would it be offensive if it were a group of black people dressed up as white people? Personally the skit didn't make me laugh, but not because it was offensive or in bad taste, but merely because it wasn't my kind of humour (bit lame and witless). Remember kids, befor you go on bitching about slavery, try being an actual fucking slave and then we'll listen to you. |
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| Sayf Udeen Ismaeel | Oct 8 2009, 06:43 PM Post #8 |
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Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ
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Ummm. It's blantantly insensative to history. Reasonably recent history at that. I'm sorry, but no matter how much time goes by, there still are going to be areas that are offensive and should not be passed off as 'comedy'. It has been detailed what was offensive about this skit and that was it's likeness to the 'Blackface' style of cinema that was popular (particularly in the US) a little less than 100 years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackface#Australia (I linked to the Australia segment, but do read the first few paragraphs of the entire article also.) With your point on dressing up as a Nazi, some people could be offended by that, but I don't think it's comparible to this incident. I think what would definitely be innappropraite and more similar to the case at hand would be if there were the same depictions of Jews, as they were depicted in Nazi propoganda being used as 'comedy'... As for Connick's past performance. I'm not sure what he now feels of it, so I'm not gonna judge him on it, nor am I going to let his being offended by the skit affect how I feel about it. |
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| Don't-Ride-Stick | Oct 9 2009, 12:34 AM Post #9 |
Dream Girl * Rawr
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It's been done (on Hey Hey!) No one was up in arms about it last time. It's all about wankeryank Harry Connick Jr. |
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| Cobby | Oct 9 2009, 12:44 AM Post #10 |
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I'm sorry sayf, but it is nothing compared to everything else that is aired on tv eg Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, American Dad and your personal favourite The Clevlend Show (no pun intended). There seem to be more white people offended by this then anybody else. What do you think I meant by when I said you should trying being an actual fucking slave befor you go bitching about it. It meant a few thing really, one of them being we personaly have no experience of what it was like to live thirty years ago, so using it as ethical leverage today is very petty. Times have changed but society will never move on untill we start acting like we've moved on. Don't take this post the wrong way sayf, you know me better then anyone including probably more then half my family so be careful about insinuating my unfavourable resemblence to Pauline Hanson. |
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