Fans of jazz singer/actor Harry Connick Jr. should be even more proud of him today for standing up and publicly doing the right thing. Connick Jr. slammed the Nine Network in Australia for allowing a racist skit to be performed during a live broadcast of a popular, “Hey Hey It’s Saturday” show, according to the Brisbane Times.
During the skit, five White men in black face and Afro wigs (calling themselves the Red Faces) danced like the Jackson 5 except the Michael Jackson character had his face painted white.
Connick Jr. was one of the judges during the show and nearly walked off before the show was over. During the judging segment he expressed his disgust at the group’s attempt of being funny.
“I just wanted to say on behalf of my country, I know it was done in humor … but we have 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,” said Connick Jr. “You know how much I love this show and this country…[but] if I knew that was going to be part of the show, I probably–I definitely wouldn’t have done it.”
The Nine Network said in a statement, “It was never intended to offend and we regret any offense the Red Faces act caused.”–WLW
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