Out of Australia comes an act that left one American very disenchanted, never mind the reality…
Out of Australia comes a public relations snafu that has the Americans wincing and writhing in pain while at the same time leaving most Australians stoked in ‘good old laugher.’ Let the racist overtones go on…
The ‘’Jackson Jive,’ a self parodying act took to stage in which a fun kitch show man called Daryl Somers plays host whilst 3 judges sit and evaluate the hot mess that comes before them. The show ( Hey Hey it’s Saturday) which has always been known and understood amongst locals for its kitch and low brow humor (unlike America where all humor and kitch has to go through a corporate sounding board and then another pre screening of the pre screening) ultimately offended the guest judge Harry Connick JR who declared that such an act (of white men applying grease to their faces to portray black men) would never be allowed to air in the United States.
In fact, Harry was so offended that he gave the act a zero, while a poll taken the next day by the local TV station who put on the show (owned by the media empire family of the Packer family) found 69 % of respondents not being at all offended by the act.
On the Bill O’Reilly show, the commentators were visibly shaken up and wondering whether Australia was still late on its civil right movement and kept harping about that laws weren’t changed until as late as 1973 (as if to suggest that Australians are still lagging in coming to terms with equality rights).
A little background check should reveal that Australia is famous for killing off 90 % of the indigenous tribes that it encountered when its ancestors first encountered the land. Coincidentally Americans are also famous for such acts except these things are generally never discussed in public because to offend the remaining Indians would be in poor taste (never mind the poor taste in killing and stealing from them in the first place).
In the end, Harry was very unhappy and was even offered a harried live air apology by the host Daryl Somers. Yet one thing remains interesting- even though Harry was correct to point out that such an act would never pass muster in America (unlike Australia where Australians either have a more relaxed attitude about such things or are simply more apt to discriminate and therefore don’t mind seeing such acts on stage which on the whole degenerates the subject) he left out something very important.
What he left out is that although this skit is a big no no in America TV land, the reality is that (never mind that civil rights laws were only passed 5 years earlier in 1968 in America) there is more violence, prejudice and discrimination being perpetrated on an every day basis in America than anywhere else in the world. It would have been nice if Harry gave this type of behavior a big fat zero as well.
Sometimes you have to look in your own back yard before you call the kettle black.
Was that skit any more racist than one of the Jackson Five being so ashamed of his own colour that he spent many millions of dollars having the pigment artificially removed from his skin?. The Australian Aborigines routinely use ash and other pigments to paint themselves white during ritual dances. Should the white people be offended by that?
No, this political correctness bullshit has been taken much too far. Next we’ll be banning parents from smacking their children. Oh wait, we’ve done that one. Yep, you can see the results wherever you go, not least in the illiteracy of some of the other comments.
I find it deeply disturbing that Australia has more freedom of speech than america and it is our 1st amendment.The bill of rights is nothing anymore!
This skit had no racist intent at all, they were merely making a (badly done) tribute to the Jackson Jive and that is it. The Jackson Jive are/were black and it would have been wrong if these men hadn’t painted themselves black. It was obvious to the audience who they were pretending to be as soon as they walked out.
The main thing we can take out of this situation is that Australian and American senses of humour are very different. Australians (as a general rule) take the mickey out of everyone, whereas Americans tend to be more politically incorrect.
aussies are in their perfect world now (please help me)
pretty much got that right there- while (apparently a majority of australians cant see how blackface is -well, offensive- the rest goes on gloating about how how australia is fantastic and racism free. cause we’ve never been bad to anyone ever in this country ever
omg. i am totally offended by everything that was written in that story. when i watched this skit, i was offended and found it humourless. i cant believe that you are bagging Australians, wen in america racism is a big problem. not all australians are racist so stop labeling us that.