Methinks the author is overly sensitive to what other cultures might think. Have some pride in our own culture and stop cringing.

PM Mahatir in Malasia had them rolling on the floor in KL with his impressions of Australians, I'm sure you were outraged at that as well, have you written about that to the Malasian press?

Yes our press are in the mold of the British press, salivating for any kind of negative story, you don't have to jump every time the press notices something do you?

We saw off the Sol Trujillo accusations didn't we. Most Australians were outraged that he didn't see the joke in the way he was depicted here. His treatment was not acceptable by US standards, but it was by ours - even our PM mocked him.

If we have to scour the world every time we do anything to see if anyone might be offended, we might as well give up our sense of humour now.

So why wasn't there this outrage when the Chaser on our own ABC did Blackface?

Even Harry Connick, so sensitive and arrogant, has done Blackface, how soon we forget our own actions when finger wagging eh?

Is it because Harry had a hissy on TV, so suddenly we're so worried about what people think.

The American issue with slavery is theirs to be embarassed about - we were not a party to it, Australian aboriginals were never slaves.

What an absurd article. Americas long and continuing history of racism has nothing to do with us. If they consider us racist because of a silly TV sketch then that is their problem. Judging by the portion of their black population in prison they need to look at their own racism and not ours. Likewise with the Indians. Fortunately we don't have a class of untouchables here in Australia. A case of the pot calling the kettle black I would say.
The one great thing about Australian culture is its lack of political correctness.
Furthermore, any group of people that would judge an entire nation on the content of one small part of a TV show, is hardly the kind of group we should be concerned about offending.
Its time people grew up and stopped finding offence where none is intended. Painting your face black so you look like a black man is no more racist than wearing a kimono to appear Japanese or painting moko on your face to appear like a Maori. The author needs to stop being so sensitive.

The Americans were so upset by Robert Downey's
"Blackface," that they nominated him for an
Academy Award!

Let's get one thing straight. The Hey Hey skit
was not a "Blackface," skit. It was a 20 year old
re-enactment of the skit these guys did on the
Jackson five. It wasn't meant to demean anyone.

How else would they have portrayed the Jackson Five?
Not had the black faces - but carried placards that
read, "We're supposed to be the Jackson Five?"

Harry Connick Jr over-reacted.

Did the press get upset with Connick over his stereotyping of white people in his white face skit? Or his comments along the lines that it was OK because whites where his target not blacks? Jackson is a target because he was Jackson, not because of colour.

Reading many of the comments on this and other forums, attempting in high dudgeon to take deflect criticism back on America, I am reminded of the old saying, "a guilty conscience needs no accusing".

As for the weak excuse of claiming that they were interpreting the Jackson 5 - in what way did any of them look at all like any of the Jackson 5? The coal-black faces? The golliwog wigs? The 70s-style "Zip Coon" disco suits? The participants made no effort to mimic the Jackson 5, instead they took the lazily racist option of grossly caricaturing African Americans, a'la the Black & White Minstrels.

Any attempt to claim that racism wasn't a part of the whole shameful episode was blown away by the station's cutaway to a cartoon of "Where's Kamahl?" What connection at all was there with Kamahl, apart from their skin colour? "They're black! Kamahl's black! Get it? Get it?"

Like the "Paul Hogan Show"'s boorish sexism, "Hey Hey It's Saturday" is an embarrassing television anachronism that should be relegating to the dusty shelves of the cultural memory.

However, I don't agree that any controls are needed for such things as blackface, except common decency. Did no-one at Channel 9 stop to think for one minute whether blackface was simply acceptable today?

So let me get this straight an Aussie of India heritage puts white make up on to lighten his face. He also wears a colourful suit and a wig, all so he can look like Jacko and react a skit he and a few friends did twenty years ago.

Why it's clear it's racist and all Aussies are evil and hate black people.

Get a life, and calm down this mock outrage is unbecoming.