Harry Connick Jr. reprimanded the host of a live Australian variety show on Wednesday when he found himself judging a talent contest featuring six dancing white men dressed up like the Jackson 5.

The singer was outraged when confronted with performers the Jackson Jive on a reunion special for long-running TV show Hey Hey It's Saturday, insisting there was no way he would have agreed to be a part of the show if he knew he's be part of a skit featuring the 'blackfaced' performers.

Host Daryl Somers apologised to Connick, Jr. prompting the American to state, "l know it was done humorously, but we've spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that, we take it really to heart.

"I know it was in good fun, and the last thing I want to do is take this show to a down level - because you know how much I love this show and this country - but I feel like I'm at home here, and, if I knew that was going to be part of the show, I definitely wouldn't have done it."

Connick, Jr. has been a regular on the variety show. The Jackson Jive dancers were reportedly a big hit on the programme in the 1980s.