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American singer and actor Harry Connick Jr. was a guest judge last night on an Australian talent show called Hey Hey It’s Saturday. One of the performances was by a group called Jackson Jive and their appearance earned them a score of zero from Harry.

The song and dance troop first appeared on the show 20 years ago. Jackson Jive was invited back for one of two reunion shows to reprise their act. The group of four white men were dressed in black afro wigs and wore blackface makeup. The group sang and danced behind a Michael Jackson impersonator wearing white makeup.

Connick was visibly shaken and told the group that if that performance had been attempted in the United States, it would have been pulled from the air. The show host Daryl Somers apologized to Connick at the end of the show. He said, “I know that to your countrymen, that’s an insult to have a blackface routine like that on the show, so I do apologize to you.”

Harry acknowledged that he would never have appeared on the program if he had known what was coming. He responded to Somers apology by saying, “I just want to say, on behalf of my country, I know it was done humorously, but 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.”

Jackson Jive performer Anand Deva said after the fact that it was not meant to cause offense but added he would not have performed it in the U.S.

View the video below.