Hey hey it's saturday

[DavidU]

I forgot to watch it last week but must remember tonight.

[stephenb]

Yep, same here. I'm sure it will be as good as last week. By the way. I recorded it on HD and burnt it to 3 discs - for archival purposes. Can't wait to see Oswald Q and Jackie. Back at the start of the 1997 season of HHIS, Daryl wanted his desk movable. Krystal had fitted an electric wheelchair wheels, motors, whilst he stood on a low platform behind the desk controlling it with a joystick mounted into the desk. My task that year was to wire up his desk for indicators, horn, electric car radio aerial. One of my many jobs at 9.

[Octane]

Stephen,

That sounds way cool. I remember the desk.

Tonight's show was great. I, can't, for the life of me work out why they canned it. It is one of a handful of shows that you can actually sit down and watch with the whole family.

Meh, I don't even have a TV and went over a friend's place just to watch this as I miss it.

Regards,
Humayun

[DavidU]

It was great ! I always told the kids about the show and they watched it tonight and they loved it. Amazing!
Steve, that sounds great, did you ever meet the guitarist Simon Patterson?

[matt]

Twas good fun again tonight. I haven't heard any talk there'll be any more. That's a shame.

When it came to an end all those years ago....I thought it had had its day and it was time to give it away. But all it needed was a rest:)

[MrB]

I watched it last week but missed a lot of it tonight, got caught at work.
Really enjoyed what I saw of both.

Agree with Matt, back then it did seem like it had had its day.... maybe it's short lived return has highlighted just how much crap there is on TV these days.
After only two, I'm gonna miss it.

[Enchilada]

Enjoyed so much the grand reminiscences and the really innocent fun I remember as a growing up school kid. (I always thought the Saturday morning programme was so very enjoyable, especially sitting around the TV with my brother and sisters.)
Jackie McDonald own views were 100% correct. Even after six months of missing everyone (when the show for me finished), my own life had already moved on.
However, if they go and decide they will bring it back, the memories might be soon completely spoilt (perhaps already with the very sour ending so badly painted in controversy with Harry Connick Jr. I.e. Reports like the UK "The Guardian"; "Harry Connick Jr weirdly unimpressed by Australia's blackface Jackson 5. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2009/oct/07/harry-connick-jr-blackface-jackson-jive)" )

So in the end, I think they should just let it be.

Simply gone by not forgotten.

Note 1: My favourite jokes of all the shows of HHIS were the really the very old Vaudeville ones. The classic one I've always remembered is;

Dickie : My prize pig only has three legs!
Darryl : What?
Dickie : My prize pig only has three legs!!
Darryl : Why does you pig only have three legs?
Dickie : We wanted a leg of pork, but didn't have the heart to kill it! :lol:

Just Brilliant! :rofl:

Note 2: Is John Blackman's actual name now also politically incorrect?

[Rhino1980]

Harry Dropkick Junior ruined it for me. Another over-sensitive American thinking they can preach their crap to the rest of the world. The Jackson Five skit was hardly racist. The same way I wasn't offended by Martin Lawrence portraying a white chick in, well, white chicks...

[sheeny]

We missed it last week but watched this one. Thoroughly enjoyed it. This is one show that is simply about one thing - fun.:thumbsup: Can't think of any current shows like it...

Al.

[Outbackmanyep]

I liked the show, i don't think it'll cut it doing it every week if it did come back, maybe once a month??

The Harry Connick thing.....i think we have uncovered a MAJOR double standard! I thought the skit was in bad taste today but the same skit being on all those years ago it was ok.......it was a dampner on the end of the show and Harry took it way too seriously......

[matt]

I thought he took the issue seriously...but handled himself quite graciously:shrug:

I agree that perhaps it didn't need to be some kind of big statement on the air ...to end the show on a bit of a sour note. That was Darryl's decision, which I also think was quite gracious, if unnecessary.

I think Harry could have issued a statement via the media or a website to get his point across, perhaps? Doing it right at the end of the show, to camera, gave it way too much gravity and only made the situation appear worse than it was.

Just my 2c worth.

[starlooker]

Here's a video of the controversy:

http://player.video.news.com.au/news/#OzPx449JDkaPwzotxtMIawW_wANydAo1

I think it all ended well with the apology from Daryl, and Harry getting a chance to talk about it.

[Satchmo]

The segment should never have gone to air in the first place . Boot polish send ups of black American musicians on air on Australian TV in 2009? Would the segment have gone to air if it was a send-up of Commercially successful 80's aboriginal band Yothu Yindi? Hardly . Shows what the the Hey Hey programming team think about their target audience..Lowest Common Denominator as always.

I thought HC was very gracious and I think Hey Hey were very wise to give him some air-time and defuse things a little. I don't watch Hey Hey but I was certainly offended and appalled by the video clip. I think Darryl could have apologised not only to HC, but to _all the viewers that may have been offended also_ which would have been some admission at least that the clip was in genuinely poor taste.

[erick]

I heard a speculative comment this morning that Harry would have quickly realised that this would get an airing in the USA and that he had to move immediately to express his concern so that he didn't receive criticism in his main market. I have no reason to doubt, however, that he expressed his personal firmly held views.



And I used to sit down years ago with my parents and watch the Black and White Mistral show, from the UK. My, how times have changed - and rightfully so, in my personal view.

I only caught general glimpses between other things I had to do, but great to see Jackie and Denise again. But, where was "Animal" the drummer? I didn't see him or maybe didn't recognise him!! (Des McKenna)

[matt]

Agreed. The decision to put this act on was ill-advised and poor.

However, to give it some context, it was a revival of an act many years ago which appeared on HHIS. I suppose they thought that it would be a nice touch to revisit the act, given the entire Reunion was one (or 2) giant acts of nostalgia.

I do wonder whether it would have assumed the same level of notoriety if Harry hadn't made an issue of it???

But again...a poor decision. I'm certain it wasn't a deliberate act of racism, as some are claiming. Just a clumsy and naive attempt at humour:)

[Rhino1980]

I still fail to see how it was racist. Though if I was narrow-minded, and prudish I probably would.

RACISM:

1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

Hmmm. None of those.

Ever watched Dave Chappel, the African-American comedian? He makes fun of white folk all the time. More so, he makes fun of black people too! White and Black people are in the audience laughing themselves to tears. Eddy Murphy, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker god I could go on. Instead of seeing what they say as racist, I see it as humorous observations about people. There seems to be no backlash against them.

The Jackson Five, were in fact black. They were tremendously talented. Some guys put some black stuff on their faces and mimicked them. There was no suggestion of inferiority, superiority and no derogatory comments made. And there's one of the key problems with our society today. We're all becoming hyper-sensitive to things that just shouldn't matter. What is supposed to make us Australian, thick skin and a good sense of humour, is eroding away. It's alright for Americans to wage illegal wars and cause horrific collateral damage, but they can tell us what is funny and what isn't? In OUR OWN country no less? Come on, they dictate to us too much already and we take too much notice. Did the audience boo? No, they laughed and enjoyed the act in the spirit it was intended, just like Aussies should. Who cares if that idiot doesn't get our sense of humour?

Australia definately does have some racial demons to get past, and this is what we should be working on, not getting all hot and bothered about skits on a variety show.

Seriously, some Aussies need to eat a bowl of concrete for breakfast everyday, because we're becoming a bunch of whimps.

That said, I agree that Darryl handled it the right way.

[DavidU]

I missed this segment however I am suprised it was ever recorded let alone played to air.

[allan gould]

Sorry Harry Conick is full of it - see his skit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooKaCbMvaZ0
and see what he does ie blacking up, taking the pi55 out of religion and lambasting blacks. Really double standards.

[starlooker]

On a positive note, I think Jo Beth Taylor looked smashing. She always looks so radiant. What a little hottie. :thumbsup:

[matt]

I don't see him 'blacking up' there:shrug: He hasn't used 'black face'.

That's more a cheeky dig at evangelical southern preachers....and a little dig at the commercialism of Xmas.

[Rhino1980]

Darn tootin'!

[allan gould]

Well if that was his intent why did he alter his colour, hair and accent. He could have done it as a white, southern preacher if that was his intent. No he did it as a coloured person. Me-thinks very double standards.

[matt]

But I don't think he's 'blackened' his face in that skit...:shrug:

And he's from the south...that's the way he talks!

[allan gould]

No he obviously looks identical in these 2 shots

[matt]

Watch the rest of the clip....that's not Harry in the left pic. That's a gen-u-ine Afro-American.....

Harry walks on later :rolleyes:

Oh Lordy!!!!:lol:

[Satchmo]

You can create 'spin' as much as you like..its clearly humor based on the appearance and style of another race of Americans, and also the contrast between the brothers black faces and Jacksons white face. It made me cringe and no amount of debating the definition of `racism' can change that. And neither does the humor of a few black comedians excuse this either.

Would you have found the skit just as ok if it had been an Aboriginal band portrayed ..its more valuable to imagine the situation in our own back yard which is what HC was expressing. If the show had presented a bunch of guys sending up an aboriginal band with faces boot polished up, it would have been taken off air permanently.

[renormalised]

Quite frankly, all I see here is another example of hypocrisy. This overly sensitive reaction is nothing more than bluster based on a false sense of indignation. Harry Connick Jr has taken the mickey out of black people himself, in order to get a laugh out of an audience and he's not the only one. In any case, this self righteous twit ought to just go back to where he came from and take his supersillious attitudes with him. Go and take a walk in any of the black neighbourhoods in America and see just how PC and sensitive most of their populations are with everyone else living there. The language they use openly about whites (and even themselves, both publicly and privately) would make a religiously PC person turn 24bit shades of red.

In order to get respect you have to earn it. In either case, neither is respectful of one another, or of themselves. PC is nothing but a put down of your own sense of worth and a diminution of your responsibilities and freedom of expression. Just in the same way as being vilifying to anyone is in the same respect.

A little bit of good, adult, common sense needs to prevail here. They need to all grow up and learn to not take things so seriously (or more to the point, take themselves so seriously).

[Rhino1980]

It's not 'spin'. That is something over zealous do-gooders and politicians create. For a pack of white guys to portray a band full of black guys, they would need to put something on their skin. That is the depth of it. If you wanna dig deeper into it, no wonder you're so easily offended! I suppose we should censor all television, internet, only eat mash potato and have sex fully clothed, once a year with the lights off too? A don't forget bible studies. I would hate for my world to be so delicate... Excuse me, I'm off to eat with the rest of the pigs.

[beefking]

They didn't change any lyrics, they weren't good singers and their choreography was pretty lacklustre, so why was the sketch funny? where was the joke?

[stephenb]

I have thought about this all morning and I cannot see any more than a parody in a comedy routine, akin to say, a group of people parodying The Rolling Stones by wearing long wigs, putting on fake lips and strut around like Mike Jagger. Or dressing up to imitate ABBA in camp glitter costumes and makeup. Or watching Lttle Britain comedian Matt Lucas performs his highly overt and camp sketch "I'm the only gay in the village". Or Nick Giannopoulos who constantly performed his overacted Wog routine for a decade. Or what about Chris Lilley portraying Tongan student, Jonah Takalua? If I recall his face was darkened by makeup. If you want to play the part down to a tee, this includes not only written material but also the visual look of the performance.

If I want to perform a tribute to Jackson 5 and dress up in 70's costumes and perorm a J-5 song, that's okay? as long as I don't paint my face because, goodness knows those Jacksonss weren't really black were they?

Having said all that, Daryl was a professional in offering airtime for the singer to express his view.

[Rhino1980]

Or Sascha Baron Cohen playing a jew-hating Khazak even though he's Jewish. Or playing a gay fashionista or fully hectic wannabe meddo gangsta. Well said Stephen.

[Outbackmanyep]

Oh well.....people can make what they like of it.
I hope the show comes back regardless, it'll be a change from the stupid "reality" tv shows which are never reality anyway, and all those other "franchise" shows which bore me to tears........
How many bloody CSI shows do we have to stomach on top of that??

Glad i have an outlet in Astronomy to do something useful with myself!

Hey Hey may be an old and tired format, but still has a big following, and any show that can survive for as long as it did is really a remarkable achievement! I grew up watching this show!

Bring it back!

[matt]

Well....the Human Rights Commission is now investigating this....

[Rhino1980]

Oh puke... The only people that anger me more than civil libertarians...

[Satchmo]

The `joke' was mainly a sight gag revolving around the visual shock of seeing 5 guys we know to be white with black boot polish faces , and the contrast of a guy who was black but pretended to be white. Its about colour, and wouldn't not be so funny in Africa where the majority are black anyway , would it?

These kind of sight gags were probably rife in the last century on the vaudeville circuits when most black people lived in slavery to white Americans and lived pretty miserable lives, and the sight of black people getting up and `doing and being something' was something unusual and easily made fun of.

[avandonk]

The basic problem is that for many years white blokes used to put on black face and 'entertain' in the USA. They generally used this as a vehicle to mock and reinforce racial stereotypes. It is considered totally unacceptable now.

It is obvious that the people involved in the sketch did not have these aims.

So from where I sit I can see there is no problem to many people but there are many who will find it offensive. Both groups are correct in their perceptions.

I see it as more in very bad taste than racial overtones.

If I have my information correct the bloke who played MJ was an Indian Plastic Surgeon who was in 'white face' pretending to be a black man who looked like a white man in real life.

The irony was not lost on me.

Bert

[erick]

OK, the real funny bit was that a plastic surgeon was playing the part of Michael Jackson, wasn't it? But we didn't know that fact ahead of time.

[dugnsuz]

The true crime here is that they put "Hey Hey" back on TV - it's puerile s@#t...IMHO.
Reminds me of Noel Edmond's crap in the UK.
All a lot of tosh!!!

[dugnsuz]

LOL...the forum software wants to send mail to s@#t...IMHO!!!!!!!!

[Enchilada]

Just reminds me of an old Jewish axiom;

"There is no such thing as a joke."

[Benno18]

What about if Michael Jackson was still alive. Different reaction then maybe? I thought it was ok and has anyone got the footage of the original act?

If i recall the audience was falling off there chairs with laughter. Harry took it a little too far. If he was black and offended.....Different story

[Nightshift]

This is just political correctness gone mad, it wasnt racist it was humour.
You want racist, how about a black man that has been performing in white face for the last 15 years!!!!! Yes, Michael Jackson, oh but no one cared about that did they. Sheesh, the minute a white man does the same thing in reverse it's racist! What a load of %&$#.

I like HC Jr as a singer but he needs to get a life.

[CoombellKid]

I remember a skit they had on of a bunch of NZ Moaris doing the haka
to Old McDonald had a farm... that was one of the funniest things I ever
saw on the that show.

Cheers

[Redshift]

It is refreshing to see a robust debate on this topic and I personally respect everyone for having their view.
There seems to be one thing being missed here. These 6 blokes did the same skit on the show 20 years ago when they were university medical students. The whole point of getting them back was to see what had become of THEM. It wasn't about the skit, it was about them. Isn't that what reunions are all about?
As for bringing Hey Hey back, I don't think the young generation would appreciate it because, like, man, they're all squares, they don't dig it!
Oh, rats, I just remembered I missed City Homicide.
:)

[Outbackmanyep]

Oh well, its over now, might as well give it bone cos thats what the whole thing deserves........

[Omaroo]

Connick Jr. was born in New Orleans, in the deep south. I'm not sure how many people here, that are commenting on this incident, are really familiar with the history of the south and the civil war that ensued over slavery. Having been to New Orleans many times, I know that it's all a pretty touchy subject over there, and I just think that we really aren't qualified over here to have an opinion on how a Louisianan should behave over it. To you and me it's light humour, but to them it's probably still as raw as the holocaust. His folks were a supreme court justice (mother) and district attorney (father) in New Orleans, so I guess that he would have a very different view to most of us. Maybe we're being a bit harsh on his reaction? :shrug:

[stephenb]

Spot on, Phil, a good hearty discussion. We've probably starting to come to it's natural ending, but you are correct in all of us missing the point of bringing them back on for the reunion show.

[matt]

I'm not sure I agree with you on this one, Chris. Not if you're saying we should only discuss issues with which we have direct experience?

I see/read/hear debates all the time on all manner of issues which people are capable of contemplating without necessarily being directly connected.

As human beings we are capable of empathy and understanding. And, yes, of great ignorance and bigotry...all at the same time.:)

[Mick]

You can't buy publicity like this LOL good on you HJ Jr your the bomb ;)

[Hagar]

Political correctness gone mad again as usual... Micheal Jackson was white wasn't he?

[cruiser]

I thought it was all light hearted and no malice was intended by anyone. At least they had the guts to ask Harry back on to discuss it and apologise then and there.

Oh..and lucky Elvis wasn't black otherwise Parkes would not be able to have a festival every year. Could you imagine the do gooders going crazy with that one.

[Omaroo]

You're quite correct Matt. I should have said "I don't think that we should force our opinion on him."

[Benno18]

Dont think you missed much then:lol:

[starlooker]

Actually, great episode of CH last night.

Too bad Jo Beth Taylor isn't it it. :thumbsup:

[Enchilada]

I didn't realise that the fellows who did the skit were not exactly 'white persons', until I saw the brief interview with one of the performers, who is even is a doctor.

I read today two very illuminating information about skin colour in these wiki articles on Human Skin Colour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_colour) and Melanin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanin)

In these days of DNA genetic information of our genes is becoming quite revealing. It is clear that only variations of only four to six genes determine ones skin colour; made quite inconsequential against the 50 000–100 000 human genes determining our human genome. (A trifling mere 0.006%) There are far more differences between males and females!

Therefore, IMO anyone discriminating against another based on ones skin colour is simply ignorant - and actual genetic science has backed this view up 100%. :thumbsup:

If some doctor, who should know these differences, and is no even 'white', then how does this become racial or racially discriminatory?

Note: The next real argument in the near future will be of selecting pre-determined skin colour by genetic therapies before the child is born - but that is another debate...

[Enchilada]

The BBC News site just posted its views on the HHIS story.
I.e. Criticism over black make-up act (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8296347.stm)

Must be a mistake, especially against the usual BBC personal Australian discriminatory agenda! (hope the author of the piece isn't sacked!) :lol:

[DavidU]

My wife is watching Hey Hey (HD recording) in the sunroom at the moment.
She is laughing so hard she needs an Asthma spray LOL.She's going to sprain something LOL:lol:

[Octane]

Each of the guys was a medical student 20 years ago.

They're all now professionals as specialist doctors.

I'm sure they would know better than most people what is, and, what isn't, racist.

For what it's worth, I personally didn't find it racist, but, I do understand how it could be perceived that way.

Regards,
Humayun

[kinetic]

Can't you just get back to talking about how smokin' hot JBT was?
:)

[matt]

:lol: Good call, Steve. There are more important issues to focus on here!

[Ian Robinson]

I watched HHIS once , many years ago , and only once , I decided it was rubbish , never watched it since.

Who cares if some american might be offended by something done or said on the show .... it's a storm in a teacup.

Public correctness gone amuck .... again.

[dugnsuz]

I still say it's rubbish!!:P

[dpastern]

I just think people need to grow thicker skins. Seriously. I haven't seen the skit in question, but I do remember them doing it 20 odd years ago. Harry Connick Jr needs to stick to what he does best - music. Political correctness gone mad.

Dave

[danielsun]

Well It seems Harry is a hypoctrite with ACA showing him doing a comedy skit in a movie in 1996 dressed as a black preist.
Also to mention that the singer in the cotraversial Hey Hey act is an Anglo Indian.

[erick]

Red Symons had done some research and gave a good presentation on the issue and everything around it this morning. I'll see if the Podcast becomes available and I'll post. I understood him to say that, though the performance was not a great problem in the Australian context and from an Australian cultural perspective, it would have been better if such a performance did not take place.

[Miaplacidus]

I watched the "offending" item with my partner. She laughed. I didn't, but that's just because I prefer my humour dry and with a twist of lemon. (I found the resulting discomfiture more funny.) I'm not sure what I think, but I can't say I find the fact that one of the performers has Indian background particularly relevant. And I think Harry Connick Jnr handled it pretty well. Maybe Daryl did too. There's a lot of insensitive racism around still. There's also a lot of hyperstrident piety around too. The former is more Australian, but I can't say I like either. (When I was a kid, if you had a black labrador, I remember chances were it was going to be called Nigger. I've also worked on APY lands, and not a lot has changed.) Perhaps the closest I feel about this issue is summed up in this article from the Age:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/hey-hey-its-not-subversive-its-just-stupid-20091008-gowg.html

[Dunx.]

Considering White America are the pioneers of enslaving African Americans (as far as I know), I think they should not look down on us at such a petty and innocent performance.

Are these guys (in the Hey Hey skit) members of KKK? No. Most of them were actually ethnic themselves, half Australian or less. Their intentions were clearly for a light hearted laugh, to re-enact a skit they performed 20 years earlier as med students.

Oh well, at least Harry got alot of publicity. :)

[Kal]

Pure gold, and the irony of this is more humorous than the skit was to me :lol:

If Harry wasn't there judging, this whole thing would have gone over without any controversy or second thought. However, when having a guest from a different culture (and YES, Aussies and Americans have a different culture as is apparent from this skit), hey hey should have been more thoughtful with regards to the act.

[Enchilada]

Isn't there, separate from racial discrimination, cultural discrimination ??

The HHIS skit can be argued as being mostly ethnic discrimination, and not either cultural discrimination nor racially discriminatory.

I.e. Cultural discrimination is like, say, indigenous aboriginals are not allowed to hunt for turtles even though it has been traditionally their significant food source and custom. Racial discrimination a belief of superiority of their race over another race of people, whose actions deliberately exclude one individual or group over another. Yet ethnic discrimination, however, in about observed differences in ethnicity in human populations based how people speak, their adopt tongue, behaviour traits, foods, etc.

The skit on HHIS was certainly aimed to be a parody (defined as "...an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect"), which is a particular type of humour. Good examples are like the Greek "Con the Fruiter" I.e. Close Encounters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnvRGsLw45Y&feature=related)or like the old "Acropolis Now" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n06G9mu34SM&feature=related) (Effie), or even "The Wog Boys" with Nick Giannopoulos and Vince Colosimo, etc. In Australia, of the 1970s and 1980s often parodied these ethnic groups, I.e. Ted Bullpit "Kingswood Country" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQS_bgZPHgQ), and were instead in turn (response), also parodied by themselves. Twenty years ago such comedy was viewed as fairly innocent, but since then Society has taken a different path.

Even recently, another parody program was the Islamic based "Salam Cafe" (2008) on SBS, and is still on TVS / Channel 31. (A sample appears at Salam Cafe: Uncle Sam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeQPAJt6caU). [YouTube page has amazingly disabled all comments. I wonder why?] or Salam Cafe - Working With A Muslim (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCWBrMPZtH0) A program like this could never be shown in America.

But in America, the changing ethnicity was much earlier, whose ethnic groups were well established. I.e. Italians and Irish, then later the Hispanics, etc. With the large population of African Americans, the differences between all the ethnic groups. Martin Luther King Jr. polarised the inequality, which profoundly changed the American culture. The significant American parody was the TV series "All in the Family" and had Archie Bunker (actor Carroll O'Connor) An example is All in the Family - Archie Bunker Meets Sammy Davis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_UBgkFHm8o) - it would never be shown on either Australian American TV now. (Makes HHIS controversy look quite lame.) Amazingly, the show seasons ran between 1971 and 1983!

Yet, unlike Australia, America had no real reverse parodies from the other ethnic groups, and it is for this reason I reckon why racial discrimination buried any necessary balance to honestly laughing at our differences between groups of people, then moving on. IMO the do-gooders have disappointedly in trying to right the world, but have instead made the divisions between all ethnic groups even wider.

---------------------------------

The original parody of HHIS of was mostly from the Jackson's songs "ABC" and "I Want You Back"
"ABC"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-16fDpOW948
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYx3BR2aJA4

"I Want You Back"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfJu_Bom2sA

As you can easily see, the parody by the Jackson impersonators if quite close to the mark. Although acted and sung poorly, I can see the point of their parody, and I'm sure it was done innocently.

[TrevorW]

much ado about nothing

[Outbackmanyep]

It's coming back next Saturday night for an Encore!

For those that don't like it...you have a remote and a choice!

[Rhino1980]

Hopefully no wus-bag guests this time!

[Baddad]

Hi All, :)

They need to grow up.

Storm in a tea cup.

Cheers Marty

[norm]

For those who were offended, take a chill pill, get a thicker skin, lighten up. Who cares if a yank got offended by it ?

So what if Connick Jnr parents were civil rights activist....good on them. But don't bring USA's moral highground to AU and what is acceptable and what is not. Why should we have a guilt complex on slavery or how $h*t America treated the blacks for all those years.
The skit was not racist, was not intended to be racist, there was no malice or hate in it. If anything, maybe poor judgement in this day and age.

Political correctness gone mad.:screwy::screwy::screwy::screwy ::screwy::screwy:.

[space oddity]

Political correctness is all about appeasing the most minority views on the assumption that they are somehow victims of discrimination . The majority (in this case that the skit was there for the purpose of a cheap laugh) are ignored because they are assumed to be oppressing those with minority views . And to think I naively thought we lived under a democratic system - silly me:P.

Some people think they are SUPPOSED to be offended by some things. They believe what they think they are supposed to believe .

Yes, I am politically incorrect ....... and proud of it. The emporer is not really getting new clothes - he is just a foolish dork - like Harry Connick Jnr.