Jackson 5: Australian host apologizes for blackface skit

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) - October 9, 2009 The skit featured four men in afro wigs and blackface, while the person who was supposed to be Jackson was wearing white makeup. The performers were called out by Harry Connick Jr., who was serving as a guest judge on the show, which aired Wednesday night. He gave the performance a zero - and said if they were doing that act in the U.S., it would have been pulled off the air.

After a visibly upset Connick panned the act, the host apologized at the end of the show, and Connick said he wouldn't have been on the program if he knew such an act was in it. He said: quoting Connick here: "We've spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that we take it really to heart."

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