Racially charged Australian TV show skit offends Harry Connick, Jr.
An incident involving actor/singer Harry Connick Jr. during his appearance as a judge on an Australian variety show is causing an international stir. The evening turned tense when an act performed in blackface, prompting Connick – himself once entangled in the sensitive issue – to give some tough talk on-air.
The show in question, “Hey, Hey It’s Saturday,” is a bit of a cultural institution in Australia, having run from 1971 to 1999; Connick was on the show to judge a reunion special. The controversial skit involved five doctors, aka “The Jackson Jive,” performing a parody of the Jackson Five. The group, host Daryl Somerstold viewers, had performed the identical routine 20 years ago when they were medical students.
After a visibly uncomfortable Connick gave the group a “0″ for their performance during the judging portion, the show cut to commercial, when Connick made his alleged abrupt exit. Back on air Somers apologized for offending Connick, a New Orleans native whose musical schooling came from many of the city’s African-American jazz musicians: “I know that to your countrymen, that’s an insult to have a blackface routine like that on the show, so I do apologize to you.”
In response Connick said: “We’ve 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 … If I knew that would be part of the show, I probably, I definitely wouldn’t have done it.”
His stance has garnered praise but the publicity’s also resurrected an ironic incident from Connick’s own past. The “Today” show says Connick portrayed an African-American preacher character when he appeared as a guest on the American sketch comedy show “MADtv.” (Ed. Note: Connick maintains that the character was not intended to be black. See below for his statement.) Some comments, as noted in this Movieline.com post, have turned heated, with Connick a target. “If you want a perfect example of hypocrisy, then look at this skit,” writes user Ranz Sunni of the YouTube clip of Connick’s sketch.
In a statement on the firestorm Thursday Connick spoke for the Australian performers and himself: “Those of you who have seen my shows or seen me in several comedic skits on TV know that I have absolutely no problem with comedic send-ups or making fun of myself or others … I do not believe that the performers intended any harm.”
Update: Connick posted this statement on his website regarding the “MADtv” sketch:
“There is a 1996 MadTV clip of a spoof featuring a black Baptist minister named Rev. LaMonte Nixon Fatback and a white southern evangelical preacher with a pompadour named Dr. Michael Kassick. Some people seem to be confused about which actor is playing which character. For the record, the actor playing Rev. LaMonte Nixon Fatback is Orlando Jones and the actor playing Dr. Michael Kassick is Harry Connick Jr.”
– Brett Michael Dykes is a contributor to the Yahoo! News Blog.
Courtesy of Yahoo News
Angel, 
jen, 
olaf and one other person are discussing. 
Dr 3:41 pm on October 10, 2009 Permalink |
HCJ is why american tourists are so hated..imposing petulant display of sick political correctness onto others..”not doing what the Romans do when in Rome”..ignorant of the host country’s culture and humour…an ingrate deriding the host’s hospitality and celebrity welcome.
HCJ ya lousy tourist..for self-promotion, rather than self-remove from venue if ya offended, ya hijacked HeyHey for stupid apology and to push ya black/white PC krrap in the wrong forum,at same time ya implicated ya African countrymen as buffoons in ya thoughts and spoilt enjoyment of the show for local millions.
Hey HCJ, when are ya gonna apologise for dress-mocking a priest or ya think that’s politically correct?
Hey HCJ, when are ya gonna teach the world that ya Hollywood pals are serial racists for portraying in their films the asians, arabs, fatties and uglies as villians, slobs and stupid?
What an american buffooon…..ya sanctimonious attention-seeking hypocrite……mouthing off on the wrong forum outside your field of expertise. It’s easy to be a lackey when ya surrounding by egotistical patriotism.
olaf 12:03 am on October 11, 2009 Permalink |
wait… HCJ was mouthing off in a “forum outside his field of expertise?” Wasn’t he INVITED to be a JUDGE on the show, because of his EXPERTISE as an entertainer? He passed judgment, as he was invited to do. Don’t be mad just because you don’t like his opinion (if it’s even opinion). HCJ said he black-face performances make black people look like bafoons. I think that’s more of an objective observation rather than subjective opinion.
If blackface performance is such an integral part of Australian culture and humor, as ya imply, maybe it is deserving of more criticism. Of course, I don’t know much about Australian culture and comedy, so maybe you can enlighten me on the ways that white Australians performing in blackface uplifts, empowers, or otherwise positively represents black Australians.
jen 3:49 pm on October 16, 2009 Permalink
Well said, Olaf.
I’d like to know, Dr, how you would have rated the performance if you were invited to do so. Should HCJ be expected to play nice when something offends him? Kudos to him for speaking up, imo.
And you say he implicated “african countrymen as buffoons in (his) thoughts.” Much like you implicated “asians, arabs, fatties and uglies as villians, slobs and stupid” and americans as buffoons in your post? Hmm.
Angel 4:04 pm on October 16, 2009 Permalink |
the dude on blackmarketindex has been dissin this all week