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“Hey, hey” Harry Connick Jr. shocked by blackface routine on variety show
Blackface certainly did not jive with crooner Harry Connick Jr. earlier this week.
The New Orleans native was stunned by a group of white doctors who donned Afro wigs and black makeup for a revolting performance of The Jackson’s Five’s “Can You Feel It” on the Australian variety show “Hey Hey It’s Saturday.”
The performance has caused a global outcry and caused deep discussion in Australia over whether it was racist.
“If they turned up looking like that in the United States…. It would be Hey, hey, there’s no more show,” Connick said after giving the act, “Jackson Jive” a zero.
The show’s host Daryl Somers apologized to Connick later in the show which was a pretty decent thing to do it seems.
” I think we may have offended you with that and I deeply apologize on behalf of all of us,” Somers said. “Because I know, your countrymen, it’s an insult to have a blackface routine like that.”
Connick, a regular on the show, spoke on behalf of his country.
“I know it was done humorously, but 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,” Connick said adding that he knew the performance was in ‘good fun,’ but as an American, he felt he had to speak out.
“If I knew that was going to be part of the show, I probably… I definitely … would not have done it.”, the singer/actor said.
Connick posted a statement on his website Thursday, Oct. 8, professing his love for the Australian and how stunning the situation has been.
“I have watched the media storm that has erupted over my reaction to the Hey Hey blackface skit.
Where I come from, blackface is a very specific and very derogatory thing.
Perhaps this is different in other parts of the world, but in the American culture, the blackface image is steeped in a negative history and considered offensive.
I urge everyone in the media to take a look at the history of blackface to fully understand why it is considered offensive. I also urge you to review the Hey Hey tape and you will see that I did not ascribe any motives to anyone, nor did I call anyone a racist.
The blackface skit was a surprise to me and I was simply shocked to see this on TV. I do not believe that the performers intended any harm.”
Some have called Connick a hypocrite, citing a 1996 “Mad TV” sketch in which he played a southern preacher. But that criticism doesn’t seem to have legs. Connick is not in blackface. He plays white southern preacher Rev. Dr. Michael Kassick to Orlando Jones played a black southern preacher Rev. LaMonte Nixon Fatback.
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