The future of Hey Hey It's Saturday will not hinge on the fallout from last night's Jackson Jive sketch which was "a storm in a tea cup", host Daryl Somers has said.
Somers fronted media this afternoon after apologising last night to Harry Connick Junior, who condemned a Red Faces sketch involving four men with their faces painted black dancing alongside a white-faced Michael Jackson impersonator.
(Watch video: Somers defends Jackson skit)
(Watch video: Harry 'still loves Australia')
When asked about whether the skit would harm the chances of the classic variety show returning permanently, Somers said: "Absolutely not".
"It's a bit of a storm in a tea cup but [the show] may keep going ... it's going to be good," he added.
"The Jackson Jive were not meaning to offend anybody — it's a touch of retro in there because they were on the show 20 years ago."
(PHOTOS: The history of blackface)
Connick Junior, a guest judge on the show, was outraged by the "blackfaces" sketch, giving it a zero before saying if it had ever appeared on US television the show would have been terminated.
"I was only too happy to let Harry talk about it — he wanted to say something and I apologised to him," Somers said.
"The Jackson Jive was just a bit of fun — it was a tribute to Michael Jackson and from an Australian audience point of view they'd see the lightness of it."
The sketch brought international backlash with some US bloggers describing Australia as a "racist" country, while other news outlets said the Jackson Jive was "vile" and "disgusting".
A storm also erupted on YouTube when some viewers thought that Connick Junior had impersonated a black preacher on popular US comedy show MADtv during a sketch with comedian Orlando Jones in 1996.
It was subsequently asserted that the character he was impersonating was not black.
Last night's show was a ratings triumph for the Nine Network, luring 3.937 million people at its peak across metro and regional areas — but the controversy has overshadowed its success.
Marina Hyde from Britain's Guardian newspaper described Australia was "the world's most savagely self-parodic country,” and introduced the skit as, “news of an important breakthrough in race relations".
Hyde, who has often expressed a low opinion of Australia in her columns, went onto to scorn host Daryl Somers for his reaction to the skit.
"If you take a look at the mind-boggling video clip, you will note that we rejoin the show after the break, during which the host seems to have had a somewhat unconvincing epiphany ... very good of him," Hyde wrote.
"In Australia, of course, [blacking up] is perfectly acceptable, and we thank the nation for yet another important contribution to the annals of human culture."
US magazine Newsweek said Somers "looked genuinely surprised" after Connick Junior told the audience: "If I knew that was going to part of the show, I definitely wouldn't have done it."
Blogger Kyra Kyles from Chicago Now said the sketch was "absolutely damn ridiculous ... [one of the] dumbest things I've seen."
Kyles gave "big ups to [Connick Jr] for reading these clueless fools the riot act".
"Shame on the host and the other judges for trying to act like this performance was acceptable in any part of the world," she wrote.
"I seriously had to look at the calendar to see if I had somehow gone on a really bad time travel a la HG Wells.
"I'm too disgusted to write anymore."
David Schmader from The Stranger posted a video of Connick Jr's reaction to the sketch on the blog, with most of the replies to his post saying Australians were racist.
"The casual racism of a lot of Australians beggars belief ... they're thirty years behind us in some ways," user Fnarf replied.
"Agreed ... I visited there a while back and was pretty stunned ... white Australians don't get it," STJA wrote.
Others said Australia had more prejudices than Americans: "Good on Connick. That piece is quite vile."
Schmader later made another blog post titled: "Australians: Post-Race Miracle Humans or Racist Idiots?" before publishing comments from people who supported the sketch.
One of the replies said: "There is nothing racist about this ... it is a parody only of the Jackson Five, not black people in general.
"Quite besides that, Michael Jackson hasn't been black in a long time ... race and skin colour are simply not of any significance to us here."
Host Daryl Somers apologised to Connick Jr on-air saying he realised it was "an insult to have a blackface routine like that on the show".
"I think we may have offended you with that act and I deeply apologise on behalf of all of us," Somers said.
The frontman for the skit — prominent Sydney-based plastic surgeon — Dr Anand Deva has apologised but said it is ironic he is being called racist, given his Indian background.
"Clearly, all of us want to apologise. I mean we have offended some people no doubt, particularly Harry Connick Jr. So I want to say on behalf of all of us that this was really not intended ... (to be) anything to do with racism at all," he told Fairfax Radio Network.
Dr Deva further defended the act by saying the group of doctors were from multicultural backgrounds and were huge Michael Jackson fans.
"I am an Indian, and five of the six of us are from multicultural backgrounds and to be called a racist ... I don't think I have ever been called that ever in my life before," Dr Deva said.
"Anyone who knows us as a group, we are intelligent people, we are all from different racial backgrounds so I am really truly surprised."
Asked if he would have done the same skit in America, Dr Deva replied, "Absolutely not".
Wednesday's broadcast was the second of two reunion shows for Hey Hey, which went off air in 1999, and talk has circulated about bringing the show back.
Last Wednesday's reunion broadcast peaked at 2.640 million across the five major city markets.
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