The disturbing Channel Nine moment that shocked the entire world: ‘Makes me so ashamed to be Australian’

The controversial blackface skit from the hit Australian television show ‘Hey Hey It’s Saturday’ has resurfaced on social media, with many Australians wondering how it got on air in the first place.

The disturbing incident occurred during the show’s 2009 reboot, which saw the performers don wigs and blackface makeup to perform The Jacksons’ hit Can You Feel It. The character portraying Michael Jackson had his face painted white.

The show was forced into damage control after American singer Harry Connick Jr was a guest judge on the segment who took offense to the act and gave it a score of zero.

“If they looked like that in the States, it would be like, ‘Hey, hey, there’s no show anymore,’” he said.

A behind-the-scenes insider revealed that after the segment aired, Connick Jr. “expressed his disgust” and negotiated an on-air apology at the end of the live broadcast, which involved both he and host Daryl Somers.

“I think we offended you with that act and I sincerely apologize on behalf of all of us – because I know it is an insult to your fellow countrymen to have such a blackface routine on the show, so I offer you I apologize,” Somers said.

Connick Jr responded and said he would not have participated in the show if he had known about the skit.

“I know it’s done in a humorous way, but we’ve spent so much time trying to make black people look like baffes that when we see something like that, we take it very personally and to heart,” Connick Jr. said.

“I feel like I’m at home here and if I knew this was going to be part of the show, I probably wouldn’t have done it,” he said.

American singer Harry Connick Jr, who was a guest judge on the segment, took offense to the act and gave it a score of zero

The shocking images made headlines around the world and were picked up on major US talk shows including The View and Good Morning America.

After watching the footage, many Australians were shocked that it aired in 2009.

“As a black boy in Australia, I found this so disturbing. I was never represented in the TGVV and the only time I saw representation it was this nonsense. My family and I never watched this trashy show again and we were so happy when they canceled it.”

Another added: ‘This didn’t sit well… I remember seeing this even in 2009 and not having the cultural awareness to see why the Jackson Jive act was wrong. On the other hand, it’s great to know that we’ve made it this far, because I now know that that was NOT okay!’

A third said: ‘I love my country. This makes me so ashamed to be an Australian though, that not only did people perform this, not only did a television show air this, but the entire audience ate it up. How embarrassing.’

Another added: ‘They knew this kind of act would be controversial in 2009 so there would be some kind of backlash. Channel 9 probably should have also realized what the act was going to do.

Others branded the sketch ‘disgusting’.

However, when the show aired, some defended the skit, claiming that “political correctness has gone mad.”

Dr. Anand Deva, the group’s frontman, apologized and said it is ironic that he is being called racist because of his Indian background.

“Obviously we all want to apologize,” he said at the time.

“I mean we undoubtedly offended a number of people, especially Harry Connick Jr. So I want to say on behalf of all of us that this really was not the intention… (to) have anything to do with racism.”

Dr. Deva further defended the skit by saying that the ‘Jackson Jive’ group – all doctors – had multicultural backgrounds and were big fans of the late King of Pop.

“I’m an Indian… five out of six of us come from multicultural backgrounds and to be called racist… I don’t think I’ve ever been called that before in my life,” he said.

“Anyone who knows us as a group, we’re intelligent people, we all come from different racial backgrounds, so I’m really surprised.”

Connick Jr. conveyed his strong disapproval and entered into discussions to arrange an apology at the end of the live broadcast, involving both he and Somers.

During its run, Hey Hey It’s Saturday had its fair share of controversy and was called out for its racially insensitive segments involving Malaysian-born Australian singer Kamahl.

When asked if he thought Hey Hey could come back, Kamahl was careful to explain that he was in favor of “smart” and “witty” humor, but “if it’s c**p, maybe we can do without it.”

His comments come after Somers sparked controversy when he said Hey Hey would not survive the current ‘cancel culture’ climate.

“You probably couldn’t get away with half of what you could do on Hey Hey now because of political correctness and cancel culture,” he told News Corp.

“It’s a shame, because showbiz doesn’t get much of a chance.”

Hey Hey It’s Saturday ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 1971 to 1999, before returning for special episodes in 2009.

A new season of twenty episodes was launched in 2010, but the varied program did not return in 2011.