'The View' sees Australia's blackface Jackson 5 demeaning

"..AMERICANS have condemned the Hey Hey It's Saturday "Jackson Five" skit, with US TV talkshows, news bulletins and talkback radio debating whether it was racist and if Harry Connick Jr was correct to take a stand.

On one of America's top-rating morning TV talkshows, The View, the skit was labelled "demeaning".

"We are in what people like to call post-racial America right now with (Barack) Obama in office," The View co-host, Joy Behar, said on air.

"I'm not saying that it (racism) is gone, but we are trying to grow as a country and that's kind of a demeaning sketch that we would never do here anymore."

Behar also raised Australia's treatment of Aborigines.

"The Aborigines, they don't treat them very well," Behar said.

Another host on the show, Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg, added: "That's absolutely true."

A third host on The View, Sherri Shepherd, said Australians had sent her messages on Twitter attempting to explain the skit, which featured a frontman in a white face impersonating Michael Jackson, backed by dancers in black face paint and wigs.

"It was really interesting," Shepherd said.

"I got a lot of Tweets from some Australian followers on my Twitter and they said our humour is different from your country's humour."

The skit aired on Hey Hey It's Saturday's Red Faces talent segment featuring American singer-actor Connick Jr, in Australia on a promotional tour.

"I know it was done humorously, but, you know, 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 Jr said.

The major US TV networks NBC, CBS and ABC all carried the story and morning shows, Good Morning America and the CBS Early Show, also aired segments.

The skit was also debated passionately online.

On the website of leading American news magazine, Newsweek, Australian and American readers argued.

"Thanks Harry Connick Jr, for showing the world that all whites are NOT racist buffoons," a Newsweek reader wrote.

"As a college-educated, African-American professional who confronts racism daily from cradle to grave, for no other reason than the colour of my skin; it is clear to me now more than ever, that racism against black people will never disappear but continue to be tolerated under various guises.". .." (News Corp)

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• The View
• Harry Connick
• Jackson Jive
• Jackson 5Michael Jackson
• Dr Anand Deva
• guest judge
• Connick
• Harry Connick Jr
• racist
• Red
• Faces
• performance

[WarriorCrimson]

@socialunrest1981 As a decendant of an indigenous australian i am not sure where you were going with that dribble but let me be clear, not even Robert Manne in all his studies or musings could find any evidence to support the notion of planned genocide taking place against the aboriginal people. More than that, even international historians rate the indigenous experience as nothing compared to the way the American Indians were treated. Again, you fail at basic history.

[dem0n1kGwensta]

harden the fuck up mate....fucking americans

[arrrrggg123]

@NicholasReidy lol...that was robert downey jr.

[NicholasReidy]

and yet harry connick jr can play a black guy in Tropical thunder.... Shut the fuck up america

[BillyBowlster]

@socialunrest1981 maybe if they got off their ass and actually worked then maybe they 'could' get into that list.

[BillyBowlster]

@dem0n1kGwensta fuck me wasn't Michael Jackson white when he died i mean they probably would have been upset if the guy wore black makeup, he should have just done one side black and one side that way he would have 50% right fucking hypocrite cunts.

[rjlives]

am not american but this is true... pls dont celebrate australia day(invasion day)

[xWithBrokenWingsx]

fuk u fuk i jagger soldie fuk

[MassBlackout]

Wow, typical example of everything having to be politically correct these days. Seriously, people need to just relax and have a damn laugh.

[brotheralex1]

fuckin' American sitting on his high horse, typical.

[WarriorCrimson]

@socialunrest1981 Again, so much fail from such a crusader. The constitutianal error that allowed this nation to exist has been rectified. There was no planned government endorsed system of genocide recognised by any academic who matters. Yet here i am explaining even the basics to a dribbler with a broom handle up her arse. As a tribesman myself i can say, please take what you think you know, shove it up deep and migrate to the US of A, only they will tolerate your kind of stupid!