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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:13 am Post subject: Connick shocked at blackface 'Jackson Jive' skit |
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Blackface 'Jackson Jive' skit shocks Connick
(CNN) -- Movie star and singer Harry Connick Jr. made waves around the world by condemning, on air, an Australian television skit featuring a group of performers who wore blackface to impersonate the late pop star Michael Jackson and his brothers.
The "Jackson Jive" performed the song "Can You Feel It" Wednesday wearing huge black wigs, blackface and one spangled glove each. The Michael Jackson impersonator wore whiteface.
Connick was one of the judges on the program, a special edition of the Australian variety show "Hey Hey It's Saturday," which aired Wednesday.
"If they turned up looking like that in the United States," he said, frowning, "Hey, hey, there's no more show."
The show's host, longtime Australian TV presenter Daryl Somers, may have compounded the problem by twice referring to the performers as "boys" -- a historically derogatory way of talking to or about black men.
continued at link; video, too |
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chris_J2
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.
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deessell
Joined: 08 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:03 am Post subject: |
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OMG! He's shocked!
He was in Australia, not the US. I think or hope that mature people would be able to understand that it was a skit. I think he should keep his PC shirt at home.
Personally, I am offended by the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. That is more offensive to me.
It's also quite funny to see the hysteria aimed at 'white people' making their skin dark in the name of humour but it was okay for MJ (a black man) to make his skin white for 'vanity'.
Sometimes I despair of this world. |
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ChopChaeJoe
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:07 am Post subject: |
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| I don't think many people think that what MJ did to his skin was okay. |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| ChopChaeJoe wrote: |
| I don't think many people think that what MJ did to his skin was okay. |
I don't think it is OK for women to undergo breast reduction surgery, but who cares? Why should it be anyone else's concern what someone does with his or her own body? |
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seonsengnimble
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Location: taking a ride on the magic English bus
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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Eh. It was in Australia, so the context is pretty different. Australia didn't have the same history with blacks as America did, so it's not quite as offensive there(I'm not black, so I have little room to judge the offense).
What I do find hilarious though, is Whoopee Goldberg taking offense. She wrote a skit for an awards show where Ted Danson appeared on stage in black face and was booed off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackface#20th_century_examples |
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eridani
Joined: 12 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:05 am Post subject: |
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| deessell wrote: |
| It's also quite funny to see the hysteria aimed at 'white people' making their skin dark in the name of humour but it was okay for MJ (a black man) to make his skin white for 'vanity'. |
This is an asinine comparison.
Whites use blackface to entertain other whites at the expense of blacks. In other words, they are being racist against blacks.
MJ never made his skin white for the sake of demeaning whites. In other words, he was not being racist against whites. If anything, he wanted to actually BE white. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:21 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
featuring a group of performers who wore blackface to impersonate the late pop star Michael Jackson and his brothers.
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What, is Australia so backward a place that the people aren't aware of racial relations in the US? In light of Australia's own historically benighted record of slaughtering their own native black population, it begs believability.
If the program were honestly paying homage to MJ, a group singing one of their songs the best they could would have been creditable. In black face, not so much. |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:06 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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featuring a group of performers who wore blackface to impersonate the late pop star Michael Jackson and his brothers.
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What, is Australia so backward a place that the people aren't aware of racial relations in the US? In light of Australia's own historically benighted record of slaughtering their own native black population, it begs believability.
If the program were honestly paying homage to MJ, a group singing one of their songs the best they could would have been creditable. In black face, not so much. |
Why should they care it was in australia not the US. While australia has it's own historical shame, blackface does not have the history there as it does in the states.
Hell I didn't even know it was considered racist till I googled it about a year ago |
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chris_J2
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:03 pm Post subject: Blackface |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_and_White_Minstrel_Show
This show also aired in Australia between 1958 & 1978 when I was a kid. The 1st UK complaint was received in 1967:
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| The show's premise began to be seen as offensive on account of its portrayal of blacked-up characters behaving in a stereotypical manner. A petition against it was received by the BBC in 1967, and since cancellation it has come to be seen more widely as an embarrassment, despite its popularity at the time. |
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| "Alternative Roots", an episode of the BBC comedy series 'The Goodies', spoofed the popularity of The Black and White Minstrel Show, suggesting that any programme could double its viewing figures by being performed in blackface, and mentioning that a series of The Black and White Minstrel Show had been tried without make up. In the late 1960s, Masquerade, a "whiteface" version of the show, had been tried, only to lose viewers. |
The Taco video of 'Puttin' on the Ritz' in 1982, featuring blackface, was banned in the US. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:46 am Post subject: |
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| blackjack wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
featuring a group of performers who wore blackface to impersonate the late pop star Michael Jackson and his brothers.
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What, is Australia so backward a place that the people aren't aware of racial relations in the US? In light of Australia's own historically benighted record of slaughtering their own native black population, it begs believability.
If the program were honestly paying homage to MJ, a group singing one of their songs the best they could would have been creditable. In black face, not so much. |
Why should they care it was in australia not the US. While australia has it's own historical shame, blackface does not have the history there as it does in the states.
Hell I didn't even know it was considered racist till I googled it about a year ago |
In other words, you were a little green frog living at the bottom of your well thinking the whole world was what you could see around you. I guess the question is: why are you more educated and aware of the whole world than the program director of that show? |
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chris_J2
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:35 am Post subject: Blackface |
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Yataboy, a better analogy would be the Kanakas (south sea islanders kidnapped to work the sugar plantations in my home state).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanakas#Australia |
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