National Online Poll Finds Hey Hey Skit Not Racist

National Online Poll Finds Hey Hey Skit Not Racist

The Jackson Jive skit that appeared on the Hey Hey it’s Saturday reunion special last night wasn’t racist or tasteless according to 65 per cent of respondents to a News Digital Media poll. Only 35 per cent of respondents found the skit offensive.

 The national poll, completed by 23,036 respondents, was conducted across news.com.au, dailytelegraph.com.au, heraldsun.com.au, couriermail.com.au, adelaidenow.com.au and perthnow.com.au.

Tory Maguire, deputy editor of The Punch said that the results to the national poll weren’t surprising.

 “While the skit was not the most offensive on recent Australian TV, it demonstrated how oldschool and out of touch the producers of Hey Hey were. The Australian public has grown up since the skit first aired 20 years ago. But the 2.5 million Australians who were watching last night were looking for nostalgia, so a returning act like the Jackson Jive was always going to appeal to them.

 “In spite of the large majority of respondents in the News Ltd-wide poll saying they did not find the skit offensive, many hundreds of people who commented on websites including The Punch were appalled at what they saw as blatant racism.”

State-by-state breakdowns found that couriermail.com.au users were the most offended by the skit with 62 per cent of respondents stating they thought the skit was tasteless and racist, becoming the only site where the majority of users were against the skit.

The Jackson Jive skit featured five doctors masked in black face paint performing a Jackson Five act.

Guest judge and American musician Harry Connick Jnr later expressed his disappointment in the skit saying that had he known prior that such a skit was going to be performed, he never would have agreed to be part of the show.