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Harry Connick Jr. Is getting a lot of credit – and a lot of criticism – for his recent critique of a performance done in blackface on the Australian talent show “Hey Hey It’s Saturday.” A group performed a Jackson Five parody as the “Jackson Jive” while wearing blackface. According to Bitten and Bound the group originally appeared on the show 20 years ago, though there’s no mention of if they wore blackface at the time. Connick, who is from New Orleans, was a guest judge on the show and was visibly upset during the act. He gave the group a score of 0, and told them exactly why he was upset.
An Australian variety show featuring performers parodying the Jackson Five while in blackface so outraged its American judge, that the program’s host immediately apologized. New Orleans native Harry Connick Jr. was serving as a guest judge on Wednesday night’s ‘Hey Hey It’s Saturday’ when he became visibly shocked by the skit, in which four men with afro wigs and dark make-up calling themselves the “Jackson Jive” sang and danced behind a Michael Jackson impersonator wearing white makeup. Connick gave the skit a zero and later confronted the show’s host, Daryl Somers, about the taboo subject.
“I just want to say, on behalf of my 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,” he told Somers. Somers seemed to realize the mistake and immediately apologized to Connick personally. “I know that to your countrymen, that’s an insult to have a blackface routine like that on the show, so I do apologize to you,” Somers said.
According to reports, the singer walked off the show after the skit and later said he’d wished he never agreed to participate on the show. “If I knew that was going to be part of the show I definitely wouldn’t have done it.”
[From PopEater]
Obviously Harry did the right thing, and the only thing a person could do in that situation. There are times where you can keep quiet to be polite, but this was certainly not one of them. The history of blackface is complicated and something I think a lot of people today don’t even know about, and don’t understand all the implications. Wikipedia has a good summary of it, noting “Blackface, in the narrow sense, is a style of theatrical makeup that originated in the United States, used to take on the appearance of certain archetypes of American racism…” I first learned about it when I saw Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled,” which is about two black men who decide to revive the minstrel show for national TV, but instead of white people wearing blackface, the black people wear it.
Harry Connick Jr. is simply getting praise though. He’s getting a lot of criticism too, and charges that he’s a hypocrite. It seems back in 13 years ago Connick was a guest on FOX’s “Mad TV,” where he played a black reverend. He’s not in blackface but his skin is darkened.
But just as he is being lauded for calling out the Australian group’s insensitive skit, Connick Jr. is also being labeled a hypocrite by many. In 1996, the singer-actor played a preacher in a ‘Mad TV’ sketch where his skin appears to be darker than usual. While he clearly isn’t in actual blackface, viewers of the clip are wasting no time calling him out on a double standard.
“Harry is a hypocrite of the highest order, typical shallow celebrity with double standards, do as i say, not as i do …” posted AussieOz07 in the comments section of the clip, found on YouTube.
According to the AP, Anand Deva, the frontman of the “Jackson Jive” act, said it was not meant to cause offense but added he would not have performed it in the United States.
Public reaction to the performance in online forums was mixed. Some Australians said they were embarrassed such a racist sketch had been broadcast, while others said detractors were too politically correct and that the skit was funny.
[From PopEater]
Here’s my thought: first off, the history of blackface is one of antagonistic mockery by white people. It is incredibly demeaning. It’s not quite the same thing to wear some skin darkening regular makeup. Many white actors on Saturday Night Live play black characters by wearing darker makeup. This past Saturday Fred Armisen played President Barack Obama, and he also does a hilarious (and often chided) impression of New York Governor David Patterson. You can argue he shouldn’t, and you can argue that Harry Connick Jr. shouldn’t have worn makeup to play a black reverend. But it’s a very different situation from wearing blackface. With the makeup, the point is to make the person appear black. With blackface, the point is to make the person appear to be a buffoon and an incredibly offensive stereotype. If you think it’s wrong that Harry wore make up on Mad TV, that’s understandable. Perhaps he agrees and regrets the decision – that doesn’t mean he should encourage others to do worse.
