Chris Lilley Is Being Slammed For Sharing A Blackface Music Video On Social Media
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Logie award winning actor and producer Chris Lilley is being roundly condemned on social media today after sharing a music video to his 250,000 Instagram followers that features him wearing blackface makeup and repeatedly using the n-word.
The video is a recent remix of Lilley’s 2011 song ‘Squashed N-word’ (except the song title actually uses the n-word), performed by his blackface character S.mouse from the ABC series Angry Boys.
The song is about a child who is run over by a truck and was shared by Lilley just days after the verdict was handed down in the case of Elijah Doughty, the 14-year old Indigenous child run over in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
Lilley’s decision to share the video has been slammed on social media.
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
His video opens with a young black kid lying splayed on the ground. pic.twitter.com/XhsgdDnKfY
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) July 29, 2017
Chris Lilley uses the n- word 15 times in the 1 minute, 40 second song
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) July 29, 2017
I know someone who follows me will have Chris Lilley in their contacts – tell him, from me; 'Chris, go fuck yourself you tactless gronk' pic.twitter.com/CZ7qro8yq6
— Senator Briggs (@BriggsGE) July 29, 2017
ICYMI Australian "comedian" @ChrisLilley has a new song and video clip out called Squashed N*gga
— eb (@Ebswearspink) July 29, 2017
if this alone wasn’t horrible enough, the video clip features Lilley unashamedly in blackface and is released at a time that many of us
— eb (@Ebswearspink) July 29, 2017
are mourning the loss of a 14 year old Aboriginal boy who was mowed down by a white man in a car. The boys killer just got off with a three
— eb (@Ebswearspink) July 29, 2017
year sentence of “dangerous driving” as opposed to murder or manslaughter
— eb (@Ebswearspink) July 29, 2017
Lilley has since deleted the video and made his Instagram account private. He has also blocked a number of people who have criticised him.
So Chris Lilley just blocked me after he posted a satire vid. A blackface video of him rapping about being run over. @ABCTV @HBO should…
— Tysan Towney (@tysantowney) July 29, 2017
+ @BBC Get rid of his content from their services ASAP. Racism in all forms is not entertainment. Making fun of young deaths in Australia’s-
— Tysan Towney (@tysantowney) July 29, 2017
Current context is not appropriate. Making a purile video where a grown ass white man makes fun of young black deaths is not right. ✊???
— Tysan Towney (@tysantowney) July 29, 2017
Lol pic.twitter.com/za4vFMcLDo
— eb (@Ebswearspink) July 29, 2017
What's wrong, Chris? pic.twitter.com/w5VFkYyzlk
— Senator Briggs (@BriggsGE) July 29, 2017
While it’s pretty incredible mindbendingly awful that the ABC would produce and release a show that featured a blackface character who sung a song called ‘Squashed N-word’ in 2011, it’s even more extraordinary Lilley thought it was a good idea to reshare the video this week.
Back in 2011 the soundtrack to Angry Boys, which featured 17 songs from S.mouse, Lilley’s blackface character, won the ARIA award for best original soundtrack.
Last month another of Lilley’s shows, Jonah From Tonga, was pulled from New Zealand television over concerns it perpetuated negative stereotypes about people with Pacific Islander heritage.
But even though Lilley would have been aware of the recent criticism of his highly controversial TV shows he still thought, for some reason, it was a good idea to reshare a blackface video and block Indigenous people who called him out on it.