Briggs has always been one to take a strong stand on Indigenous issues, and Flight Facilities are the latest artists to catch his ire, after one half of the duo Hugo Gruzman took to Facebook to defend a recent example of blackface.
It all began last week when a mother of two proudly shared an image of her “queening moment” – her child dressed as AFL footballer Nic Naitanui, his skin painted brown. Briggs had strong words for the defiant mother, deeming it “such an obviously reckless, racist thing to do” and predictably a row ensued.
As Pedestrian.tv report, this is where Hugo stepped in to let their Facebook comments section know that “this isn’t blackface”, and was immediately shot down by an endless stream of commenters rebuking his claim – one of which was Briggs.
Briggs, of course, responded strongly and swiftly, telling Pedestrian.tv, “Cool, another white dude who gets to decide what black people are and aren’t offended by. These dudes are so sheltered and so privileged; you’re sitting back and saying you need to educate me on blackface?
“It’s insanely reckless to be talking like that – these kinds of remarks are the telltale signs of this white, paternalistic ideal of race in Australia. It’s like, you don’t have the right to be tell me why blackface isn’t offensive and use history as an example – Australia has its own history of blackface that dates back hundreds of years. So excuse me, Hugo from Flight Facilities, but are you a history major in race relations on Australia? Go fuck yourself.”
For their part, Hugo and Flight Facilities have remained silent on the comments since the initial posts.
Briggs has been famously vocal about incidents of blackface, including a particularly unfortunate recent example by a local football club, and the newest single by his outfit AB Orignal and Dan Sultan, ‘January 26’, takes aim squarely at the idea of Australia Day.
In a recent interview with Tone Deaf, Briggs made it clear that he’ll continue to speak up about Indigenous issues wherever they arise. “We’re subtle like a sledgehammer. Being subtle and humble is what the oppressor wants. And we’re not about that.”
