Chris Lilley is absolutely copping it for reposting an insanely insensitive video just days after the man who killed Indigenous teenager Elijah Doughty was found not guilty.
As he bloody well should, quite frankly.
The video, titled – we’re sorry to say – “Squashed N***a“, is from Lilley’s ill-advised days as S.Mouse, his African-American character from TV series ‘Angry Boys‘. The video opens with a shot of a black boy apparently dead on the ground after being struck by a car, and features heavy use of the N-word. It was first made public in 2014, but for some reason, Lilley reposted it to his Instagram account this afternoon.
The reaction was swift and furious, with many high-profile Australians, Indigenous and otherwise, calling him out for his racist bullshit.
Days after man who ran down Aboriginal teen was sentenced to 3 yrs, @ChrisLilley posts blackface vid “squashed n-“: https://t.co/tgL3WuP18M pic.twitter.com/lVn2hrfG2t
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) July 29, 2017
In a time where this country is mourning the death of a child run down this cheap excuse of comedy drops. The only joke here is Chris. pic.twitter.com/uLeL0dgbka
— Ryan Griffen (@RyanJGriffen) July 29, 2017
https://twitter.com/NatalieCromb/status/891137292236070912
https://twitter.com/BriggsGE/status/891131616763953152
Before you say Australians have lost their humour, and we used to find this stuff funny, we didn’t. You can just hear non-white people now.
— Benjamin Law 羅旭能 (@mrbenjaminlaw) July 29, 2017
It’s not the first time Lilley has caught shit for his determination to play characters from other racial backgrounds, complete with skintone-changing makeup and offensive accents, but it is the first time it’s been so widespread, so quick and so vehement.
Lilley has responded by deleting his Instagram (but not before the video racked up over 30,000 views), and briefly taking down his Twitter account before posting this weak shart of a non-apology:
https://twitter.com/ChrisLilley/status/891203760361357312
Come on, mate. It’s time to do better.