Asked to appear on the Australian variety hour Hey Hey It’s Saturday as a guest judge, Harry Connick Jr. sputters in disbelief when a Jackson 5 impersonation group entirely in blackface appears onstage. He first gives the group a 0 scorecard for the performance while the audience boos; later, at about 4:40 into the clip, Connick launches into an impassioned race-relations lecture explaining why blackface is a bad thing. “If I knew that was going to be a part of the show, I definitely wouldn’t have done it,” Connick declares on live TV. The host appears genuinely surprised.
After watching the clip I wouldn’t say he blew up, but I would say he was bothered by the act and spoke from the heart.
Gotta love Harry Connick. He's a stand up guy. That was a really bad show. I'm sure they got away with it 20 years ago and no one complained.
30 years ago – when I was in elementary school – some kids did a blackface Jackson Five and I just couldn't believe it. The audience was about 50-50.
They'd never do it now. I live in Georgia. OK – Atlanta, not rural Georgia (where it's probably still no problem).
It just makes me sad. Why does it matter what color people are? Jerks are in the same proportion no matter what the race/religion/country/natural origin/home planet(Star Trek joke).
That was just bad.
I doubt they were aware it was so controversial in the USA and meant to cause any offense. I guess they won't do that again.
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