A mountain has been made out of a molehill by this talented American singer over a comical skit on
Hey, Hey It's Saturday, a popular Australian variety show.
Hey Hey skit condemned - Yahoo!7 Sunrise
It's flooded Australian news headlines and ventured into UK and US news for all the wrong reasons. 'Australia is racist' is the setiment portrayed worldwide, when it is blatantly obvious to Aussies that the skit did not intend to be a racial slur, nor was it considered offensive by the vast majority of them.
Because Harry took offense to the skit, all of a sudden Aussies who don't share his point of view are racist. The doctors who performed the skit clearly never wished to convey prejudice or racism (none of whom were Anglo-Saxon), but the media has taken Harry's criticism of the skit and run with it to create pandemonium.
Whilst seeing the skit live, I had no feelings or thoughts that the act was offensive or was performed in ill faith. Indeed one only has to watch a few
Hey Hey It's Saturday episodes to see that it encapsulates this sort of typical Aussie humour in every show - taking the Mickey out of people in jest. This particular skit would certainly have passed uncriticised if Harry (or other easily-offended people) wasn't on the judging panel.
Now what say you there in the UK and US about this?
I'd be interested also to hear from any Aussies who felt anything other than entertained by the skit.
The show,
Hey Hey It's Saturday, has been an Aussie icon for over 20 years, and it was a blast to have seen the reunion show on TV after being discontinued, now tainted by this incident.
Last edited by Ash; 10-08-2009 at 05:49 PM.