Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under fire for not one, not two, but three recently released images and a video of him wearing brown and blackface makeup.
The first image released by Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, showed now 47-year-old Trudeau, wearing brown face in a yearbook photo. Trudeau admitted that the photo is from back in 2001 when he was a school teacher. He admitted to putting on the makeup as a part of a high school talent show where he performed the Jamaican folk song “Day O.”
The second image released by TIME late Wednesday, showed 29-year-old Trudeau at a party which apparently had an “Arabian Nights” theme, as he was dressed as Disney’s ‘Aladdin.’ He was pictured with a turban on his head, and you can clearly see that he has dark makeup on.
Trudeau apologized for the blackface instances, saying, “I should have known better, but I didn’t, and I’m really sorry.” He added, “I stand here before Canadians as I will throughout this campaign and talk about the work we have to do to make a better country together,” he adds, “And I am going to continue to stay focused on that and continue to work to fight intolerance and discrimination, even though obviously I made a mistake in the past.”
Hours after he admitted to the first two instances, a third instance surfaced Thursday. The video exposed by the Canadian network Global News, showed Trudeau sticking out his tongue while wearing dark makeup on his face, arms, and legs. He also was wearing a black wig along with ripped pants.
Trudeau, who launched his reelection campaign a little over a week ago, spoke to reporters Thursday and said, “It was blackface.” When asked if there were any other instances floating around of him in blackface, he said he was not sure if other photos or videos might surface. “I am wary of being definitive about this because the recent pictures that came out, I had not remembered,” he said.
He continued, saying, “The fact is, I didn’t understand how hurtful this is to people who live with discrimination every day.”
“This is something I deeply, deeply regret. Darkening your face, regardless of the context or the circumstances, is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface,” Trudeau said.
Of course, Twitter had a lot to say about the black and brown-faced photos, as one user tweeted, “Many people would be willing to forgive Justin Trudeau, if he had shown forgiveness to others. But he hasn’t. He’s built his whole campaign on finding the mistakes in other people’s pasts, and then destroying them for those mistakes. He must be held to the same rules.”
While another person wrote, “What Justin Trudeau did was wrong. He has apologized. I know it is not representative of the man he is. This is a teachable moment for all of us. I accept his apology, and I hope Canadians do too.”
#Trudeau is in the middle of a re-election campaign, and he reportedly is in a virtual tie with Conservative Andrew Scheer, although Politico reports that he had a slight edge, according to polling numbers that came out on Monday. Election day is set for October 21.
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