I watched this show last night it is called Hey Hey it's Saturday witch is sort of a slap stick fast pace off the cuff comedy show and there is a segment called Red Faces where just about any amature act can get on and will be given a score out of 10, most of the time real silly stuff not to be taken to seriously.
I must admit that i thought nothing of this until i woke up this morning and heard it all over the media and in America they were getting stuck right into it. All that i saw was a bunch of guys taking off the Jackson Five and Michael Jackson who i might add some of them are Indian the guy with the white face was. If a bunch of black guys came out with white faces i would'nt have thought anything different i will add that i didn't think it was all that funny anyway.
In Australia we take the mick out of each other no matter what race we are but this has nothing to do with race it seems to many Australians that other countries blow this kind of thing way out of proportion, is this just another example of political correctness gone mad.
I can see how due to circumstance some people maybe offended but it was not intended in that way a bit of foresight may have been good though.
YouTube - Hey Hey Its Saturday (the Jackson Jive) American Insult
http://www.3aw.com.au/displayPopUpPlayerAction.action?&url=http://media.mytalk.com.au/3AW/AUDIO/081009_fordonjacksons1.mp3
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 3.937 million people at its peak across metro and regional areas — 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.
I must admit that i thought nothing of this until i woke up this morning and heard it all over the media and in America they were getting stuck right into it. All that i saw was a bunch of guys taking off the Jackson Five and Michael Jackson who i might add some of them are Indian the guy with the white face was. If a bunch of black guys came out with white faces i would'nt have thought anything different i will add that i didn't think it was all that funny anyway.
In Australia we take the mick out of each other no matter what race we are but this has nothing to do with race it seems to many Australians that other countries blow this kind of thing way out of proportion, is this just another example of political correctness gone mad.
I can see how due to circumstance some people maybe offended but it was not intended in that way a bit of foresight may have been good though.
YouTube - Hey Hey Its Saturday (the Jackson Jive) American Insult
http://www.3aw.com.au/displayPopUpPlayerAction.action?&url=http://media.mytalk.com.au/3AW/AUDIO/081009_fordonjacksons1.mp3
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 3.937 million people at its peak across metro and regional areas — 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.