Connick speaks out over blackface act

SYDNEY, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. musician and actor Harry Connick Jr. has voiced his disapproval of performers who donned blackface on the Australian TV show "Hey Hey It's Saturday."

The group, which called itself the Jackson Jive, sang the Jackson 5 song, "Can You Feel It," on Wednesday's special edition of the variety program on which Connick was a guest judge, CNN said.

"If they turned up looking like that in the United States, hey, hey, there's no more show," the U.S. news network quoted Connick as saying with a frown about the performance.

"It didn't occur to me until later -- I think we may have offended you with that and I deeply apologize on behalf of all of us," the show's host, Daryl Somers, told Connick. "Because I know, your countrymen, it's an insult to have a blackface routine."

CNN said Connick replied by saying he wouldn't have appeared on the show had he known about the act beforehand.