Embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Saturday that he was not in a racist 1984 yearbook photo of two men dressed in blackface and Ku Klux Klan garb, despite admitting he was in the picture a day earlier. He did, however, acknowledge darkening his face for another occasion that same year, when he dressed as singer Michael Jackson as part of a talent contest.
The governor also continued to assert that he won’t resign over the photo controversy.
“When I was confronted with the image, I was appalled that it appeared on my page, but I believed then and I believe now that I am not either of the people in that photograph,” he said at a press conference at the governor’s mansion.
He apologized for the picture appearing on his page, calling the image “offensive” and “racist,” but said that he had nothing to do with the preparation of the yearbook, and that he did not purchase it.
He acknowledged that he had initially admitted to being in the image, but said that “in the hours since I made my statement, I reflected with family and classmates from that time and it affirmed my conclusion that I am not the person in that photograph.”
Northam said that while he did not attend the party where the picture was taken, he did attend one the same year, for which he said he “darkened my face as part of a Michael Jackson costume.”
“I look back now and regret that I did not understand the harmful legacy of an action like that,” he said. However, he went on to note that he had gone on to win that contest, in part because he could perform Jackson’s signature dance move — the Moonwalk. When asked if he still able to perform the dance, Northam paused to look at the space next to him as if he was about to attempt the move, before his wife Pamela said it was “inappropriate circumstances.” – READ MORE