Hey Hey, it’s racist segments and unapologetic hosts day! John Blackman, one of the main cast members on Hey Hey, It’s Saturday has responded to Kamahl’s claims of offensive and racist treatment on the show, after the host Daryl Somers spoke about the show’s history of blackface and racism.
Let’s unpack this entire mess that’s been going down with the cast of Hey Hey, It’s Saturday. To put it simply, the show has a rather problematic history with racism, from the blackface skit in front of Harry Connick Jr., to the treatment of Malaysian born singer Kamahl, who was met with many a racist joke on the show.
But what’s happening now? Well, this renewed look at the show’s past begins with Somers, who told The Daily Telegraph that “it’s a shame” that the extremely problematic segments they used to air on the show wouldn’t be acceptable today due to “political correctness and the cancel culture.”
Following this, a series of clips from the show resurfaced on Twitter and went completely viral. The clips involve host Daryl Somers and off-screen partner John Blackman (who played the faceless puppet Dickie Knee) in a wild selection of racist and extremely problematic segments that the show aired.
The clips starring singer Kamahl gained the most traction, and you can see why right below.
To celebrate Daryl Somers’ hot take on cancel culture yesterday here’s all the edits I’ve done from the Hey Hey archives.
Here’s the legend Kamahl being bullied by the Hey Hey gang pic.twitter.com/Aa3WMeRw54
— John Patterson (@johnpatterson) March 22, 2021
Kamahl spoke to The Guardian about his treatment on the show, saying that his experiences often left him “humiliated”, including one in which he was surprised with white powder being slammed into his face. John Blackman ‘joked’ at the time that this made him a “real white man”.
“I didn’t want to raise any objections or protest about it. I kept smiling and pretending all was OK,” Kamahl told The Guardian.
So what’s happening now? Well, Blackman has responded to the Kamahl’s Guardian interview with about as much sympathy and self-reflection as a brick wall.
Blackman wrote out a lengthy post to Facebook on how Kamahl should have “marched up” to him and complained about the racist treatment he was receiving, insinuating that he was too “insecure” for show business.
— John Patterson (@johnpatterson) March 27, 2021
“Goodness me Kamahl, 37 years and you’re still ‘humiliated, you knew where my booth was!” he wrote.
“I do recall you getting offended after I mentioned you at a Melbourne venue.
“Something along the lines of ‘Kamahl is performing tonight – he’s running just a little bit late because he’s having trouble getting his elephant under the boom gate in the carpark.’ Got a huge laugh but I heard you took umbrage. Why?”
My guy, if you have to ask why someone would get offended by that, there really is no helping you now. And also, if someone tells you that they aren’t comfortable with your words, why would you desire the right to keep saying them anyway? For what purpose? What do you gain?
The worst part however is when asked by a fan if he felt bad, Blackman had this to say.
— John Patterson (@johnpatterson) March 27, 2021
Righto, John.
Kamahl simply had this calm response to Blackman’s claims. What a legend.
@OfficialKamahl John Blackman wants to know why I did not make any complaints then !
Mr. Blackman, you of all people know that it’s all about TIMING!
There’s a time for everything !
“Why are so many people so unkind ?”
— Kamahl AM (@OfficialKamahl) March 28, 2021
To wrap up this yarn, here are some tweets about Blackman that really hit the nail on the head.
John Blackman is ten years younger than my dad was. My dad would not tolerate a shred of racism in the house inc. “jokes”. This idea that everyone laughed at racist jokes in the 70’s/80’s simply isn’t true. I never understand this type of argument because it’s easily refuted.
— Rachael Lonergan (@RachaelHasIdeas) March 28, 2021
John Blackman was one of the worst behaved on the show. Even as a small child the racist and misogynistic things he’d spew made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. And that was just watching from home. I can’t imagine how it felt to be there in the firing line.
— Enn (@hugofroyo) March 28, 2021
John Blackman’s reaction now highlights that he probably would not have taken kindly to Kamahl raising it at the time.
Besides, Channel 9 was the biggest media company in Australia at the time and could have impacted Kamahl’s career in a big way.
— Dan (@Trismegistos4) March 28, 2021
