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Comedian Chris Lilley Widely Criticised For Controversial Music Video

The music video features Lilley wearing blackface and rapping racial slurrs.
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Australian comedian Chris Lilley has been caught in social media uproar after posting a music video to his Instagram page that shows him wearing blackface.

The video, a remake of Lilley's 2011 song 'Squashed N***a', features a young boy being hit by a truck. The clip opens with an Indigenous boy lying with his limbs splayed.

The post comes just days after a man was cleared of manslaughter charges over the death of a 14-year-old Indigenous boy, Elijah Doughty. Doughty was riding a motorbike when he was hit by the driver of a ute 600 kilometres west of Perth in August 2016.

The video, that racked up more than 30,000 views, has since been removed from Lilley's social media accounts. Lilley has also made his Instagram account private and reportedly blocked followers who criticised his actions.

The comedian has since released an apology to Twitter, saying he apologises "for any hurt caused by the misinterpretation".

On Friday, hundreds of people rallied in Melbourne shouting "black lives matter" to protest the verdict handed down after the driver who killed Doughty was instead handed a three year dangerous driving sentence.

Despite his apology, Lilley's post has been described as "racist", "not funny" and "insensitive".

Chris Lilley is a racist and he's not funny pic.twitter.com/aZQvxaeAmy

— Amy McQuire (@amymcquire) July 29, 2017

Let's hope Chris Lilley's exit from social media is a permanent one, and that he remains off our TV screens too. #goodriddancetobadracism 😡

— IndigenousX Pty Ltd (@IndigenousXLtd) July 29, 2017

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