Connick Jnr. starts race row over tv skit in Australia.

That's partly because this is the only thing Chappelle's predominantly white audience really wants to see from black comedians.

 

RR's point is you can't pick just any black person and base all opinions off that, especially someone detached from the American perspective.

 

I didn't particularly like the "I speak on behalf of All American People" stuff Connick said... "all"?? You know that ain't true. He could have said at least "I speak on behalf of what respectful, sensitive, American People would say"...

 

I guess that's the trade-off for being a Western country in an increasingly interconnected world. You wanna be on the top rung socially and economically, you may have to act a little more civilized towards people who don't look like you.

And try not to do a blackface skit to infront of a jazz pianist who grew up in New Orleans, probably the blackest former slave city in America.

 

20 years ago was 1989, not 1929.

 

So. If a person tells Racist Jokes . . .. among an 'understanding audience'
Its not so bad. . . because those offended by it aren't there?

If a tree falls in the woods. . .and no one there to hear it .. THE TREE STILL FELL

You tell Racist Joke. . . around an 'understanding Audience' . . IT IS STILL A RACIST JOKE

Yout basic premise is. . . . it is ok to be evil and vile. . .as long as you around like minded folx . . and everyone outside it . . .well . .they just wouldn't understand and they should understand the setting blah blah blah . . . .

Am I reading that wrong?
It was suppose to be only for Austrailians
An American was there. . heard it . .got offended . . and he should have understood the setting

This would be like me overheating, in a meeting with all white people
someone tells a n****r joke . .. I should understand the setting . . .cause I wasn't really meant to hear it ? I should not hold that against any one
cause .. . .
well . . I wasn't suppose to hear it
cause .. . well . .. It wasn't meant for me to hear a loud laughter

Sorry nun . . . doesn't work that way.


Rocket River

 

HC Jr. handled that very well actually -- he would be receiving more flack if he had said nothing.

 

This explains why Kirk Lazarus was Australian.

 

What do you mean, "you people?"

 

Oy (vey). Oy (vey). Oy (vey).

I never thought I'd say this in my lifetime, but dang, Harry Connick Jr. is right on the money. I agree with Cheetah; as a performer who could see the next day's headlines if he did not act (silence = acquiescence), he handled that as well and as delicately as humanly possible. (Maybe he should quit C-Listing on international game show knockoffs, and follow in his father's shoes and run for office from La.)

Why the outrage over the outrage? Is Australia forever a nation of Lleyton Hewitts, always questioning the (correct) Blake-ian line calls of international society?

In an otherwise muddled film, watching Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney putting on shoe polish in Spike Lee's Bamboozled profoundly hit me when I first watched it. Still does. Around two minutes in, from a different period film:

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It's inherently racist, in the United States or Australia. Doesn't mean that it was intended to be so, but it is. Blackface exaggerates minority races' physical characteristics (no black man is that dark) to paint them as buffoons, as clowns deserving of ridicule.

It doesn't make any sense as a comedy bit, either. The real Jacksons (Five, not Six) were perfectly choreographed / excellent dancers. And they all, you know, actually sang. This makes no sense; the blackface performers just flop around arhythmically for a bit, and the one (skin-)tonal joke falls flat. At least Al Jolson could belt out a tune.

Australia doesn't exactly have a pristine history on race relations (cough Aborigines cough), either. It's not as if Australia is some pristine, racially homogenous Oz, untainted by the effects of racism suffered by the outside world. An established history of second class citizenship for racial minorities does not exist only in America.

This should have never made it to air.

 

We should all learn to laugh at each other...

DD

 

If you were talking about Carlos Mencia or the Cable Guy or any other hacks who do racist jokes (and there are others), you'd have a point. They're bottom-feeders.

But Chappelle's show, and his act, did as much to deconstruct, defuse and demystify racism and racial attitudes over the last decade in this country as any other cultural event (not currently taking up residence in the White House). He had the best-selling DVD in America, and used that substantial platform to take on issues of race head-on, following in the wake of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock.

He did "whiteface" his news anchor character, yes, but specifically because it was so obviously jarring, reminding viewers of the sordid history of blackface in Hollywood; Chappelle's use was completely antithetical to the history of the form, and he was hilarious while doing so. He turned racial attitudes on their heads, and poked fun at their absurdity.

Let's not forget, that Chappelle quit his show without a moment's forewarning because, while performing a sketch, he perceived that one laughing (white) crew member wasn't in on the joke, and was mistaking his clever subversion of racism for racism itself. He didn't want any other halfwit watching at home to make the same error, didn't want to contribute in any way to even mistaken perceptions of promoting racism, so he walked away from his career, and the guaranteed tens of millions of dollars that went with it, on the spot.

But yeah, screw Carlos Mencia.

 

Carl Herrera?

 

Plenty of White American comedians use racial humor these days.

Why do they get away with it?

 

In the 70s and 80s we rebelled against the post-War era with p*rn and bloody, gorey violence. Most younger adult whites now probably had racial tolerance (rightly) drilled into them through parents, education and the media; and they're revolting against it now through Silverman, Di Paolo, Lampanelli et al.

And black comedians did it for, I dunno, thirty-five years? Add that to the fact we'll (hopefully) never, ever legally punish someone for it.

 

But only if it's actually funny...

 

Yeah, we're all laughing at Australians for thinking Blackface is funny.

 

I think the question, though, is what Chapelle did inherently "racist" from the get-go? Or was it never racist because of the intent of the performer?

It would seem to me that intent doesn't hold nearly as much weight as outside perception in matter's of racism. That seems to be the case here. I don't know these performers intent, but let's assume it was to be entertaining, and not racist. The perception by many, however, is that it was overtly and clearly racist...so it was, right?

If Chapelle's stuff was perceived by some as racist..and it clearly was, then was it? (racist, that is?)

I think the skit was certainly racist, and am fine with HCJr's actions - though it may have played a little better if he spoke simply on behalf of himself (even if many others agreed with him). That said, I think there are clearly double standards, be it the Chappelle's and Mencia's of the world making fun of races, Downey Jr playing a white man playing a black man in a movie within a movie, or elsewhere...