White performers paint face Black to impersonate Jackson Five. Offensive?

Im not black, and certainly no racist, what if i started to refer to Michael Jackson as a ****** on public TV, would that be cool, because after all, my intentions certainly arent racist:|GulliversTravel

..yeah that was racist...when the hell are we going to see the day, when people get pass skin color

[QUOTE="CBR600-RR"]

Yeah, that's so racist. :roll:

Tjeremiah1988

Why would putting make up on your skin so that you look more like another SPECIFIC person be offensive? It's kinda wierd and silly, but not offensive.

And you're right, vaudville and that other racist stuff was offensive. But not SIMPLY because they painted their faces black, but because of how they potrayed blacks in their actions on stage. The jackons' impersonation wasn't potraying them in any negative way was it other than that the dance moves were not up to standard?

..yeah that was racist...when the hell are we going to see the day, when people get pass skin color

Chris_Williams

I know right?

these variety shows.... Oh how they are destroying our society!!!!

OF COURSE MAN THATS SO RACIST11!!1!!11 OMG OMG ZOMG THE GS LAYOUT IS BLACK! THEYRE RACISTS!!! jeeeeeeeeeeeesus chriiiist... its so sickening how they try to call everything racist nowdays, and especially since people should get over it when its a joke >_>8-Bitterness

oh! who's "they" huh?

your imperfect wording is CLEARLY racism.

I bumped into a black guy today by mistake and he started screaming at me and calling me racist right after I apologized.. People really need to lighten up and quit calling the race card for every little thing that happens.

No, it's not. Black people can impersonate white people, but not the other way around?

I bumped into a black guy today by mistake and he started screaming at me and calling me racist right after I apologized.. People really need to lighten up and quit calling the race card for every little thing that happens.

Tannerr33

well thats because you are clearly ignorant to the historty of white people bumping into blacks. :roll:

Whites used to do it to blacks in the 1930's as a way of humiliating them. of course they bumped into them with a baseball bat, really hard, in the head and stomach. And they definitly didn't apologoze afterwards. but still, it's basically the same thing.

see what I'm getting at TC?

(don't mod me, I was just using a silly comparison to show how ridiculous the TCs point is)

It's sad that people nowadays consider everything racism.dont-read-this

your sig is definitly racist btw.

They started this routine 20 years ago... So no, I don't think it is racist. If they created this after Michael's death, then yes I would think it is racist.

[QUOTE="dont-read-this"]It's sad that people nowadays consider everything racism.Phaze-Two

your sig is definitly racist btw.

[QUOTE="Phaze-Two"]

[QUOTE="dont-read-this"]It's sad that people nowadays consider everything racism.dont-read-this

your sig is definitly racist btw.

I can really tell a lot of people here don't understand the history of blackface. Comparing it with the movie "White Chicks"? Really?

I can really tell a lot of people here don't understand the history of blackface. Comparing it with the movie "White Chicks"? Really?

Ace_WondersX

I can really tell you haven't read my posts on the previous page.

blackface was so offensive and racist not simply because they painted thier faces black, but how they potrayed blacks in a negative light.

putting dark makeup on your face is harmless on its own, but when you make the person you are potraying and their entire race out to be sub-humans, then THAT's where things go wrong.

these guys impersonating the jacksons biggest offense was that they couldn't dance at all from what i saw.

[QUOTE="Ace_WondersX"]

I can really tell a lot of people here don't understand the history of blackface. Comparing it with the movie "White Chicks"? Really?

Phaze-Two

I can really tell you haven't read my posts on the previous page.

blackface was so offensive and racist not simply because they painted thier faces black, but how they potrayed blacks in a negative light.

putting dark makeup on your face is harmless on its own, but when you make the person you are potraying and their entire race out to be sub-humans, then THAT's where things go wrong.

these guys impersonating the jacksons biggest offense was that they couldn't dance at all from what i saw.

[QUOTE="Phaze-Two"]

[QUOTE="Ace_WondersX"]

I can really tell a lot of people here don't understand the history of blackface. Comparing it with the movie "White Chicks"? Really?

theone86

I can really tell you haven't read my posts on the previous page.

blackface was so offensive and racist not simply because they painted thier faces black, but how they potrayed blacks in a negative light.

putting dark makeup on your face is harmless on its own, but when you make the person you are potraying and their entire race out to be sub-humans, then THAT's where things go wrong.

these guys impersonating the jacksons biggest offense was that they couldn't dance at all from what i saw.

and an orange being round brings up a connection with apples. they're two completely different things. and they didn't HAVE to. no once HAS to do anything, that doesn't make what they did wrong now does it?

Is there something wrong with dancing a number popularized by black people if you don't appear black yourself? No.

That doesn't mean it's wrong to appear as someone else though either.

I watched this live and it made me and my family giggle a bit, and then we saw the news the next night about America finding it racist. It's been taken way out of proportion. Clearly it's a comical, exaggerated act. If black men painted their faces white, nothing would come of it.

Wow talk about over zealous political correctness. All this was was a bit of fun and a tribute to the Jackson Five, even Marlon Jackson has acknowledged that they weren't trying to be offensive or disrespectful so why can't everyone else? And I actually find it quite funny that they are being labelled racist considering that the group was made up of people with backgrounds such as Indian, Sri Lankan, Irish-Italian and Lebanese, I mean correct me if I'm wrong but that seems that that is quite the opposite of being racists. Should I be shocked and appalled as a white person that a person of Indian background painted their face white? Of course not because I can see it for what it is, a bit of humour and fun.

Australia is widely known for its multicultural society, and unless you have visited Australia I don't think you really hold any weight in arguing that Australians are racist, because if you had been here you would see that in today's society we are very multiculturally diverse and accepting. Sure, Australia has had history with racism such as the White Australia Act which lasted until 1973 or so and issues with Aborigines, but every nation has had or is having problems with racism. Australia has come a long way.

And whilst I know it is not the same thing to draw parallels between black people impersonating white people, as blacks have obviously been subjected to to horrible discrimination and segregation but in recent times we have seen this happen and it's been okay. Eddie Murphy did it in his "White like Me" skit on SNL and even in movies such as "White Chicks" we have seen it. It was done in humour and was accepted, I certainly didn't take offense to it. But in all of this I believe you need to look at 'intent'. The people on "Hey Hey it's Saturday" had no intention of causing such outrage or being racist. Looking back on it they probably would have revised their choice in how to represent the Jackson Five but honestly it has been blown completely out of proportion, and people need to let go of all this political correctness that has blinded them. It was all in good fun and people have merely overblown the whole situation. Get over it.

One further point, it annoys me quite a bit having seen people say "as an American I take offense to this". What does being an American have to do with anything? Get off your high horse, you're not exactly the bloody little angels of the world.

People in the US are just too extremely sensitive when it comes to racial issues. You'll have black comedians calling people honky making jokes at the expense of whites or other races and black people think it's funny. Not saying all, but it does happen. BUT when a white person does something similar or for this example, tries to imitate the Jackson 5, it's automatically racist. It's just a performance, there was nothing racial about it. Learn about the people who performed the act and you'll realize that this is blown totally out of proportion.

I can really tell a lot of people here don't understand the history of blackface. Comparing it with the movie "White Chicks"? Really?

Ace_WondersX

Yeah, that was in bad taste. But it's a different culture.

The Japanese black their faces up too quite often. They don't mean to be offensive. They don't know any better.

Hmm. It's not like they were trying to be racist but when white people get painted black then people will always take it offensively; whether they're trying to be racist or not.

[QUOTE="Commander-Gree"]Why didn't they just hire black actors? :?vaultboy_ninja

Because this was a TALENT SHOW.

Oh.. that sounds really bad.

[QUOTE="vaultboy_ninja"]

[QUOTE="Commander-Gree"]Why didn't they just hire black actors? :?FamiBox

Because this was a TALENT SHOW.

Oh.. that sounds really bad.

I'm sorry if I offended anyoneby my above post, I didn't mean it the way it sounded.

[QUOTE="FamiBox"]

[QUOTE="vaultboy_ninja"]

Because this was a TALENT SHOW.

vaultboy_ninja

Oh.. that sounds really bad.

I know, I know. It's funny though huh. Sounds like you meant black actors have no talent.

I know, I know. It's funny though huh. Sounds like you meant black actors have no talent.

FamiBox

Wow is this still in discussion? these double standards have gotten way out of hand, to be honest a lot of black people would piss themselves laughing at this because they have a sense of humour and aren't wasting their lives guilt tripping people about how their grand parents were treated...

If you can see racism in this act but not in Eddy Murphy dressed as a white man on numerous occasions I would think you are the one being racist here, and if you think it cant work both ways **** you.

"Out of the six of us, only one is Anglo-Celtic Australian. I'm Sri Lankan-Australian, there's an Indian Australian, a Greek Australian, an Irish-Italian Australian and a Lebanese Australian. We're all Australian"

"We all underestimated what the reaction would be, but in the end it was our decision to go on air dressed the way we did."

"But to be honest, we thought that we didn't get any complaints 20 years ago, and we didn't get any complaints two months ago at the Med Revue, so we figured it was probably all in good fun,"

That's some of the things the group said after the reactions in their own defense. As an Australian myself I had known about the history of blackface in America and was watching it while it was on and immediately knew this would offend people. It's was probably not meant to be racist at all but it was a foolish. But all those blogs calling Australians racist based on the skit by 5 guys is dumb, if anyone's been here they would know that it is one of the most diverse countries in the world with one of the lowest crime rates per capita, sure there's issues with racism in some cases but that's everywhere in the world with people with mixed backgrounds and religions.

No I dont see how painting your face black to impersonate someone who IS black is racist or offensive. I really dont. :S

No I dont see how painting your face black to impersonate someone who IS black is racist or offensive. I really dont. :S

Teenaged

No I dont see how painting your face black to impersonate someone who IS black is racist or offensive. I really dont. :S

No I dont see how painting your face black to impersonate someone who IS black is racist or offensive. I really dont. :S

Wow talk about over zealous political correctness. All this was was a bit of fun and a tribute to the Jackson Five, even Marlon Jackson has acknowledged that they weren't trying to be offensive or disrespectful so why can't everyone else? And I actually find it quite funny that they are being labelled racist considering that the group was made up of people with backgrounds such as Indian, Sri Lankan, Irish-Italian and Lebanese, I mean correct me if I'm wrong but that seems that that is quite the opposite of being racists. Should I be shocked and appalled as a white person that a person of Indian background painted their face white? Of course not because I can see it for what it is, a bit of humour and fun.

Australia is widely known for its multicultural society, and unless you have visited Australia I don't think you really hold any weight in arguing that Australians are racist, because if you had been here you would see that in today's society we are very multiculturally diverse and accepting. Sure, Australia has had history with racism such as the White Australia Act which lasted until 1973 or so and issues with Aborigines, but every nation has had or is having problems with racism. Australia has come a long way.

And whilst I know it is not the same thing to draw parallels between black people impersonating white people, as blacks have obviously been subjected to to horrible discrimination and segregation but in recent times we have seen this happen and it's been okay. Eddie Murphy did it in his "White like Me" skit on SNL and even in movies such as "White Chicks" we have seen it. It was done in humour and was accepted, I certainly didn't take offense to it. But in all of this I believe you need to look at 'intent'. The people on "Hey Hey it's Saturday" had no intention of causing such outrage or being racist. Looking back on it they probably would have revised their choice in how to represent the Jackson Five but honestly it has been blown completely out of proportion, and people need to let go of all this political correctness that has blinded them. It was all in good fun and people have merely overblown the whole situation. Get over it.

One further point, it annoys me quite a bit having seen people say "as an American I take offense to this". What does being an American have to do with anything? Get off your high horse, you're not exactly the bloody little angels of the world.

dazman31

No it wasn't racist. What else were they suppose to do, wear masks? Do the skit without anything on their faces so it wouldn't make any sense? Honestly who cares, it's not like they put black paint onto their faces just to laugh at black people, they were simply trying to fit into the character. Next thing you know, using a black pen will be racist because the ink will portray the skin colour of black people.Faber_Fighter