Racy Safran
Well, having given you a twitter teaser I should probably be penning something insightful about this evening’s Race Relations ep, in which John Safran gets a head-to-toe makeover in order to become a (trojan) proud black brother. But instead, I’ll borrow the words of The Age’s Michael Lallo:
Tonight, thousands of Australians will tune into Race Relations with the sole intention of getting offended. Yes, it’s the episode in which John Safran paints his face black – and on our government-funded broadcaster, no less! Left-wing hypocrisy alert! After all, what’s the difference between Safran and those blokes who did the blackface skit on Hey Hey, It’s Saturday? No doubt our conservative columnists and AM talkback hosts will have plenty of theories, most likely involving some combination of chardonnay, political correctness and “fancy university degrees”. But the difference is actually quite simple. The “blackface” look – boot polish, white lips and Afro wigs, as seen on Hey Hey the other week – was traditionally used to make black people look stupid. Safran does not do this. Instead, he genuinely tries to disguise himself as a black man to see what it’s like. There’s nothing racist or hypocritical about it. Sure, he deliberately pushes people’s buttons – but in a way that provokes interesting questions and makes us think. What’s more, Race Relations is damn entertaining. It would be a shame to see all this overshadowed by simple-minded populist outrage.
Hungry Beast did a great piece on the media’s fanning the flames of moral outrage so they can cash in on it:
And lookie there – at the end of the clip. If it isn’t the media trying to do exactly that to Safran even before the ep goes to air!
► John Safran’s Race Relations, tonight, 9.30, ABC1
Clip: ABC
Leave a comment