Lilley's series Summer Heights High gained significant controversy, criticism and media scrutiny for its portrayal of such issues as mental disabilities, homosexuality, sexual abuse, and racism. Even before the series aired, some community groups complained about a rape joke and Mr G's inappropriate touching of a boy with Down syndrome.[31][citation needed] The Herald Sun reported that parents and some teachers have considered the possibility that the show is influencing children to misbehave at school. Students were reportedly imitating Jonah and Ja'mie, repeating lines that were bullying, racist, and homophobic.[32] Education Union branch president Mary Bluett stated in response that the show was "clearly tongue-in-cheek".[33] After episode three, in which a character called Annabel dies after taking ecstasy, the family of Annabel Catt, a 20-year-old woman who died taking drugs at the 2007 Good Vibrations Festival in Sydney, complained that the program had been lampooning Annabel's death.[31] ABC apologised to the family, stating that the situation was purely coincidental and assured them that the filming of the episode in question had been completed eleven days before her daughter's death. ABC thereafter began to display a message before each episode stating that there is no link between the series' characters and people in real life.[31]
On 29 July 2017, Lilley was the subject of criticism after posting a remix on his Instagram account of a music clip entitled Squashed Nigga, starring the character S.mouse from Lilley's 2011 TV show, Angry Boys. The music video featured an Indigenous boy lying on the ground with his arms splayed. On 24 July 2017, the court case based on the death of Elijah Doughty had ended in controversy and was the subject of pro-Aboriginal protests. Just like the real case, Lilley's music video described an Aboriginal boy being run over and killed. It was reported that many who criticised Lilley's inopportune timing were blocked from his Twitter account, with Lilley later deleting his social media accounts.[34]
Lilley's series Jonah from Tonga was called racist[35] and resulted in protests from academics[36] and Tongan youth concerned at the inaccurate and demeaning portrayals of Tongan culture. The show received criticism for Lilley's imitation of a non-White person, which was dubbed by certain media commentators as brownface, an act they have compared to blackface minstrel shows of the 19th century and early 20th century.[37][38][39] The creators of the 2004 ABC TV documentary series Our Boys stated that Lilley drew inspiration for the Jonah character from their work.[40] The subject of Our Boys recalled being "absolutely embarrassed, full of hate, angry and exploited" after viewing Summer Heights High, saying "I knew from that episode Jonah was me".[40] The series' director, as well as a teacher at Canterbury Boys High School also felt that the character exploited the Tongan students who Lilley had met while visiting the school after seeing Our Boys on television in 2004.[40]
Major US civil rights organizations wrote to HBO expressing their "deep concern" over Jonah From Tonga. These included the NAACP, National Hispanic Media Coalition, American Indians in Film/TV, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities and The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition (which itself includes the Asian American Justice Center, Asian Pacific American Advocates, Japanese American Citizens League, Media Action Network for Asian Americans, National Federation of Filipino American Associations, and more).[41][42]
In 2019, Lilley was again accused of blackface by journalists for his Lunatics character Jana Melhoopen-Jonks, a South African woman.[43] This accusation was later acknowledged to have been unfounded, as the character is White.[44]
Following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, BBC iPlayer removed Jonah from Tonga from its online streaming service.[45] On 11 June 2020, Netflix confirmed it had removed four of Lilley's series from its streaming service, also in response to the Black Lives Matter protests and movement.[46] In the weeks following these events, Lilley posted multiple videos of content involving the Jonah character to his YouTube channel.[47]
