Jonah from Tonga cast (photo: bbc.co)

HBO this month is demonstrating that political correctness has not yet smothered bad judgment. Instead, it’s showing why those acute sensitivities developed in the first place, by airing the unbelievably tone-deaf Australian Broadcasting Corporation program, Jonah from Tonga. Created by Australian actor Chris Lilley, the program is styled as a comedic mockumentary about a group of trouble-prone Tongan teens. Lilley—39 and white—plays 14-year-old schoolboy Jonah, by wearing a wig and “brownface.”

“All such attempts at making travesties of who we really are, perpetuate long-held and faulty assumptions of our values, self-worth, beliefs, culture and our tangible contributions to American life, Australian life, and Tongan life,” said the National Tongan American Society. According to organizers of a petition asking HBO to pull the show from its schedule, “All of the teenage ‘Tongan’ boys in the show are low achievers, gang members or in jail. Much of the ‘comedy’ is derived from Jonah’s acts of violence, sexual aggression, ignorance and profanity.”

The Japanese American Citizens League (representing another group of Americans affected by racist prejudices) weighed in, noting that satire can be “a powerful weapon for revealing and skewering the irrationality and absurdity of the racist ideas,” but pointing out that “the juvenile and crude characterizations in ‘Jonah from Tonga’ only reveal Lilley’s deep ignorance and disrespect for the Tongan people.”

In describing the show, HBO says “Jonah tries to leave his naughty ways behind and be a ‘good boy,’ but with Jonah, things never quite go as planned.” Let’s hope this fate applies to the series, as well. While it aired earlier this year in Australia and on BBC Three in the UK, it was a ratings “disaster” for these networks. The Australian producers’ defense, reported here, is weak.

Huh? In 2014? Who is HBO trying to entertain with this crude racism? You can sign the petition here. I did.