A skit on Australia's "Hey Hey It's Saturday" featured performers in blackface doing a routine mimicking the Jackson Five. The performer portraying Michael Jackson was in whiteface. Hilarious.
None of the other guests on the show seemed to have a problem with it, mainly because, according to them, blackface doesn't exactly resonate negatively in Australia. Right.
Harry expressed how offended he was, "...We've spent so much time trying not to make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that, we take it really to heart."
He assumed the performers just meant it out of humor, and I agree that the performers probably had no ill-will. I'm sure they weren't going on the show to insult Black people. However, it is silly to think that racism can only exist in certain parts of the world. It is everywhere. Racism takes on different forms, and one doesn't need to be in a white hood with a burning cross to be racist. Racism emerges from ignorance, and these performers were ignorant that this performance was, in essence, a minstrel show.
I disagree with this strange dichotomy created between Australia and the United States. So if there wasn't an American judging, that performance would've been okay?
Let's call it as it is: the performance was racially insensitive in any case. It doesn't matter that it was in Australia. Racism exists everywhere.
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