Harry Connick Jr not happy on Aussie TV show

[Mikey]

YouTube - Hey Hey It's Saturday Reunion - Harry Connick Jr incident.

m

[toys2cool]

yeah I saw this yesterday on inside edition, I'd be mad too

[vulcan2074]

I would've been mad as well. Definately uncool.
Sammy

[JPkempo]

I saw this by the look on his face you can tell he is just shocked. Each country has is't take on what is ok and what is funny and what is wrong. The show didn't take the American veiw into consideration when they booked the act. HC tryed to say the right things after the act but he was so unconfortable.

[Hector]

Connick handled the situation very well...he took issue...but without being hysterical about it.

Bravo...well done.

[Mikey]

He always reminds me of Sinatra

[Hector]

Connick is the present day Sinatra.

He trumps Sinatra at piano...but not in the voice department...ol' blue eyes had a great voice.

But yes...Connick is very talented.

[mego73]

He handled it well. I dig Harry.

[Shanester]

He handled it well. Race relations are a rollercoaster ride here in New Orleans (Connick's Hometown) and people can sometimes offend without meaning to. The show host was gracious to point it out and apologize like he did.

[txteach]

He did a black face skit on the TV show Fridays a few years ago. I guess that was ok because he's in hollywood. no outrage when he did that.

YouTube - Harry Connick, Jr. on MadTV - Preachers Skit

[JPkempo]

He did a black face skit on the TV show Fridays a few years ago. I guess that was ok because he's in hollywood. no outrage when he did that.

YouTube - Harry Connick, Jr. on MadTV - Preachers Skit

He's not in black face in that skit so that argument is wrong.

[txteach]

Well he is brown with a wig so the argument stands.

[JPkempo]

Well he is brown with a wig so the argument stands.

He's brown? didn't look like it to me. Wig yes.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I am surprised Red took so long to hit the gong.

It does seem hypocritical to me, having seen that post of yours John.

I was thinkin' only last night that gay people need to get their act together like Black people did and show the world they will not take anymore of that kind of crap.

[Sowth]

I was watching that show when that happened, my wife and I just looked at each other gob-smacked when the act walked on stage. I think the producers were so excited by the fact that they were getting an old act back from 20 years ago for the re-union show that they didn't engage their brains.

I don't know anybody who would think it was OK to have a black-face act on TV or anywhere for that matter, so it's been pretty cringe-worthy seeing some Aussies trying to defend it. It's no excuse but black-face acts certainly don't have the historical context here that they do in the States, I can remember seeing the "Black and White Minstrel Show" on TV here when I was a kid, which seems inconceivable now.

There has been a lot of stereotyping of Australians as racist or backwards over this which is a bit unfair, imagine if your values were judged based on the most tasteless tv skit on some random show.

I think Harry did extremely well in a bad situation, props to him.

Will

PS - Good call too Cat, I wince every time I hear some school-kid refer to something derisively as 'gay', I'm hopeful of that changing sooner rather than later.