VIDEO: Harry Connick Jr. Involved In Racial Controversy
Oct. 8 2009, Published 4:01 a.m. ET
When you think of black and white in relation to Harry Connick Jr., you probably think of piano keys -- until now.
Connick, appearing as a judge on an Australian television variety show called Hey Hey It's Saturday, was subjected to an uncomfortable stretch of minstrel humor when an act called Jackson Jive -- five white Australian guys in black face pretending to be the Jackson Five -- appeared before him to be evaluated.
An irritated Connick gave the Aussies a zero for talent and taste.
"Man, if they turned up looking like that in the United States ... there's no more show" he said.
"I just wanted to say on behalf of my country," Connick told the show's host. "I know it was done humorously, 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."
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In light of his comments on the Aussie show, some people are calling him a "hypocrite" because in the mid 90's, Connick appeared on Fox's Mad TV; in the skit, a noticeably darker Connick plays a preacher friend of a black Baptist minister, played by black actor Orlando Jones.
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