It’s only taken six years but The Wiggles have officially apologised for their wildly insensitive ‘Pappadum’ song.
The song featured in a 2014 episode of Ready, Steady, Wiggle! and was long forgotten about until Twitter got its hands on it. The video was widely shared and criticism for its racial elements unsurprisingly followed.
The Wiggles can be seen dressed in traditional Indian dress (kurtas and saris) while they dance to ‘The Pappadum Song’. An Indian woman appears beside them, looking like she was kidnapped and taken as a hostage to the studio.
Several cliched signifiers of the country appeared, including a cricket bat and, of course, the aforementioned crispy flatbread dish.
Aussie Twitter started arguing over the video. “It’s basic Western European style condescending kids music with, for no discernible reason, an Indian woman dancing and everyone else doing mock Indian things,” wrote one person.
https://twitter.com/whatthedickens6/status/1319147371352260608?s=21
“The whole thing turns another culture into a punchline. There are far better ways to do this, even with whimsy,” said another.
https://twitter.com/exostrologist/status/1319144280498315264?s=21
The original don, the biggest wiggle to ever wiggle, Anthony Field, finally did the right thing and apologised, according to 7news.
“I wrote the song, and directed the clip in 2014 (which was meant as a celebration),” he wrote on Twitter.
“It was not my intention to be culturally insensitive to the Indian community, or to add value to ethnic stereotyping.
“Apologies.”
Many commenters – white commenters mostly – tried to shrug the video off as harmless fun but this just dismisses how widespread and dangerous casual racism is in our country.
No one seriously thinks that The Wiggles – players of bagpipes and banjos and entertainers of infants (and some adults) – meant any offence to South Asians. It’s the acknowledgement of their mistakes and naivety that matters now.
So The Wiggles aren’t cancelled. Yet. Just saying though, Hi-5 went out on top with no controversies.
Check out the less controversial ‘Put On Your Party Hats’ by The Wiggles:
