The Journal of the European Association of Studies on Australia, Vol.2. No.2, 2011, ISSN 2013-6897 under the auspices of Coolabah Observatori: Centre d‘Estudis Australians, Australian Studies Centre, Universitat de Barcelona 22 The Jackson Jive: Blackface Today and the Limits of Whiteness in Australia Jon Stratton Copyright © Jon Stratton 2011. This text may be archived and redistributed both in electronic form and in hard copy, provided that the author and journal are properly cited and no fee is charged Abstract: Blackface has had something of a renaissance in the United States. There it is invested with a postmodern, selfconsciously parodic quality. In Australia there has also been a renaissance of blackface. Here, however, it appears to continue to be invested more straightforwardly with racism. This article focuses on the notorious Jackson Jive sketch on Hey, Hey It's Saturday in 2009. In that sketch six men blacked up and wore cheap Afro wigs performing as if they were the Jackson Five. They claimed that the sketch was simply humorous. Australians were divided; many found the sketch offensive while many considered it enjoyable. A similar division in the population occurred when Sam Newman, an ex-Australian Rules footballer and knockabout comedian, blacked up in 1999 and pretended to be the Indigenous footballer, Nicky Winmar. In Australia blackface continues to reinforce the privileges of whiteness-even when, as was the case with the members of the Jackson Jive, most were in Australian terms either non-white or marginally white. In this case, blackface reinforced these men's honorary whiteness. Keywords: blackface; Jackson Jive; Nicky Winmar; larrikins; bogans; racism Introduction It‘s October 7 th , 2009. On Channel 9 there is a reunion episode of a series that ran for twenty-seven years between 1971 and 1999. Hey Hey It’s Saturday, a variety show with elements of vaudeville and light entertainment, had been highly successful. It won a Logie for Most Popular Light Entertainment Program nine times, including for the year the show finished. The TV Week Logie Awards provide popular recognition for the Australian television industry. The presenter for the life of Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Darryl Somers, won the Logie for Most Popular Light Entertainment Personality five times and the coveted Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality, three times. Now there is a reunion show, actually the second of two. Essentially, these are to test the waters to see if a new series of the show would be popular. The two reunion shows are shown on Wednesday evenings but the title remained the same.