It has been the topic for my clients all day - no matter who they are or why they see me. Over and over I've been asked what I thought of the embarrassing "Hey Hey" moment. No easy or simple answer from me on this one! There is so many principles involved.
Firstly, it was of course stupidly insensitive. It was of course racist and just plain dumb. But as most people have pointed out, we australians do not have the same history of "black face" singers. We see it just as an impression, not as a cultural statement. We haven't had years of struggle against that particular stereo type. We are racist in that we aren't aware of the implications.
We also are much better at being irreverent than other groups of people. Give us a sacred cow and we love to have a go at it. An important national characteristic.
Thirdly, Australians should not have to conform to American sensitivities - God knows they have no cultural sensitivity of their own. They plunder the world with out care about the cultures they stand on. But we would be very offended if an american show had a skit with white americans dressed up as Aboriginal Australians, complete with paint and a stupid dance. We need to think about how that would feel and how insensed we would be.
There endeth opinion
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