GOOD MORNING, P.O.U.!
THE JACKSON JIVE
Although, even in its 21st century incarnation, the show continued to rate highly, not all sectors of the Australian community were fans. The show has been widely criticised as being backward and culturally insensitive.[21] Its outlook and many of its jokes are considered to be racist and sexist.[21][22] Such views were highlighted by the international controversy surrounding the aforementioned “Jackson Jive” sketch on Red Faces, which had the show derided as “old fashioned, out of touch, stale, [and] misguided”.[23] Since the end of the show’s original run in the late 1990s, Australian television had become less tolerant of politically incorrect material.
The Jackson Jive
The Jackson Jive act appeared on the “Red Faces” segment during the second reunion special on 7 October 2009.[24] The sketch—in which six participants, five wearing blackface, performed a Jackson Five song—sparked outrage and condemnation locally and abroad.[25] American musician Harry Connick Jr., who performed on the show, was guest judge at the time and strongly expressed his disapprobation of the skit when asked to give a score, and also later on in the show.[24] Subsequently, Connick was accused of being hypocritical, some claiming that at a time earlier in his career he wore blackface:[26] in December 1996 he played the role of an Evangelical preacher in a spoof with Orlando Jones which featured on the show MADtv, however the accusations are confuted by the fact that in the skit he wore no blackface, baring his natural skin color, and that he performed with African Americans.[27]
Sketch
The performers, Suresh de Silva, Joseph Macdessi, Harry Koumoukelis, Mark Sader and David Jefferson dressed as the Jackson Five in matching blackface outfits and wearing large afro wigs. They also made their teeth extremely white.[28] Anand Deva performed as an adult Michael Jackson, painting his face white.[29] They sang the Jackson Five’s hit “Can You Feel It” in a jive style.[30]
The performers were all from Sydney and work there as doctors.[31] Times Online has described Deva as a “prominent Sydney-based plastic surgeon”. The others included a radiologist, an anaesthetist, a psychiatrist, a cardiologist and a urologist. The group had performed a similar sketch on Hey Hey It’s Saturday in 1989 when they were all medical students.[32]
Reactions on the program
Guest judge Harry Connick Jr., an American musician who originated from New Orleans and whose band contains several African-American members,[29] gave the performers a “0” score.[33] He appeared visibly uncomfortable throughout the skit.[31] He said, “If they turned up like that in the United States, it’d be like Hey Hey There’s No More Show.”[30] He also later said that he would not have agreed to be on the show had he known beforehand about the sketch.[33]
Connick’s Australian co-judge, seated to his right, awarded the performers a “7” score.[34] This judge, Jacki MacDonald, had originally intended to not participate in the show, but decided to after seeing the success of the first reunion episode. Her showing here was her first appearance on television with host Daryl Somers in 21 years.[31] In grading the “Jackson Jive”, she said that “I thought you were very cute.”[34] Regular judge Red Symons, well known for giving low scores, awarded them a score of “1”.
Daryl Somers said that nobody had intended to deliberately offend the viewers, the guests, or the audience. He described the sketch as a “bit retro”.[29] Somers apologised to Connick on air after a brief station break and said that he had forgotten that blackface has a different cultural background in the United States compared to Australia.[34] Somers appeared to be genuinely surprised by Connick’s reaction.[35]
Other responses
The controversial sketch happened at a point in which many Australians had expressed concern about an underground wave of racism in Australian society.[28][29] Overall, Australians responded far more positively than residents of other English-speaking nations.[28] Internet surveys done through News Limited-related agencies and Twitter stated that many Australians considered the sketch to be a funny and inoffensive tribute to Michael Jackson’s memory. Some Australian political commentators remarked that only political correctness had been upset. In the United States, however, many internet based commentators reacted very negatively.[29] Many internet commentators also panned the sketch in the United Kingdom.[35]
Julia Gillard, then-Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, defended the skit. She said that “It was just a bit of fun… a tribute to Michael Jackson and I think from an Australian audience point of view, they see the lightness of it.”. The Acting Premier of Victoria, Rob Hulls, labelled the skit as offensive. He also stated that Australia is not a racist country.[35] The Australian feminist Germaine Greer condemned the sketch as a “piece of shit”.[28] She also appeared on Australian television in the days after the sketch. When asked about the negative reaction in Britain, she said, “they’re a mean lot”, as though criticism was unfair.
Australian television personality Sam Newman, who has used blackface in his acts, said that the sketch would “arouse moralists”. He argued that it is not truly offensive. Kamahl, an Australian entertainer who was mentioned in the sketch and is of Malaysian ethnic heritage, referred to it as “a desperate attempt at notoriety and publicity”. He also said that “Hey Hey is devoid of any real wit. It’s desperate. It’s toilet humour and it should be flushed.”[35]
Reaction by the performers
Suresh de Silva has publicly responded to the criticisms. He said that “The worst consequence of what we did is that the skit has raised the question of are Australians racist. We’re genuinely horrified that our mistake could cause people to think that . . . Australians care more about ability than race.” He also identified himself as having Sri Lankan ancestry and the other performers as an Indian-Australian, a Greek-Australian, an Irish-Italian-Australian and a Lebanese-Australian.[29]
Silva said that his group would not have performed the sketch in the United States. He also said that “I suspect things are probably a bit different in America in terms of what that [black face] means.”[32]
Reaction by Jackson Five members
Marlon, Tito and Jackie Jackson felt shocked after they were informed about the skit. Marlon Jackson thanked Connick for speaking out. Connick said that the performers probably had not intended to be offensive and that, “Man, if they turned up looking like that in the United States it would be like ‘hey, hey, there’s no more show'”. [36]
(SOURCE: Wikipedia)
Here’s video of the show:
This concludes our series on Racism In Australia. As you have seen, Australia is a cesspool of racism, contrary to T.I.’s declaration. But what we’ve presented this week only scratches the surface of the racism that happened and is still happening in Australia.
Stay tuned….