Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wore a turban and dress and painted his face black at several parties in the 1920s and 2000s.
In the midst of the Canadian general election campaign, several photos and videos are emerging showing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wearing black makeup during parties 20-30 years ago.
A total of three cases have emerged in the past 24 hours, in the form of photos and videos taken from school yearbooks and private recordings.
Trudeau, who was in his 20s or 30s when it happened, apologized Thursday and said he should have researched more.
– I should not have done that. I should have known, and I didn’t. I apologize profusely, he said.
The release of the photos comes just as Trudeau campaigns for Canada’s parliamentary elections on October 21.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to reporters in response to the Times report that he painted his face black at a theme party in 2001.
Trudeau is not the only politician in North America to have been criticized for posing for images perceived as racist. Earlier this year, the governor of the US state of Virginia, Ralph Northam, was tempted to pressure him to resign following a photo in a college yearbook in 1984.
At a closing gala in 2001 at a private school where Justin Trudeau worked as a teacher, the prime minister dressed up as Aladdin, writes Time magazine, who posted a photo from the party. The team party was “Arabian Nights.”
Trudeau: Yes, the photo is racist
When asked if he thinks the image is racist, he responds as follows:
– Yes it is. I didn’t think it was racist at the time, but now we know better, he said.
In the photo you can see that Trudeau, who went to the party in a turban and dress, also painted his hands black. The photo is from the yearbook of the private school West Point Gray Academy, where he taught.
In the directory, Trudeau is the only one of the six photographed to have dark skin. Many of those who dressed for the Arabian Nights gala are still at the school, including its current principal, Stephen Anthony. He is shown with “what appears to be a crown,” writes Time.
Trudeau says he also put makeup on his face when he was in high school to sing “Day-O,” a Jamaican folk song by African-American singer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte, writes The New York Times.
– I deeply regret having done it, he said.
Thursday evening, Norwegian time, I wrote BBC World News about a third case where he plays in “blackface”.
Trudeau’s party, the Liberal Party, confirms that the video is authentic and dates from the early 1990s. The video shows Trudeau laughing, waving his raised hands while sticking out his tongue and grimacing.
Trudeau is probably in his late teens or early 20s in this video.
Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, said “the image was racist in 2001 and it still is today.”
– What Canadians see today is a person completely devoid of dream power and integrity, and someone who is not fit to lead the country, he said.
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