Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, decided to wear brownface to a party held at a private school. Justin once taught at that private school in 2001.
There’s a photograph that has been leaked of the incident, and the photograph was taken at an “Arabian Nights” themed party.
Trudeau apologized saying, “I shouldn’t have done that and should’ve known better but I didn’t. I’m really sorry.”
Trudeau also wore blackface when he was singing a Jamaican folk song by a African American civil rights activist. That photo shows Trudeau at a school talent show wearing a wig.
Recently, there was a video showing Trudeau in blackface with his hands in the air and the photo was taken in the early 90s.
This is a big problem for him because he recently began his re-election and the citizens may not want to re-elect him because of his scandals.
Trudeau was gaining media attention from the global press for what he was wearing. Last year, he wore Indian garb when he went to India with his family.
He was also denounced by Robert Davidson, who is a part of the indigenous people, because of a tattoo. Davidson said that Trudeau’s government’s approval of a gas facility showed that he was not sensitive towards the indigenous people.
TIME spoke to different people who attended the spring gala in 2001, especially the women in the photos with him. One of them refused to speak about the situation and the other two forgot about Trudeau and the picture.
Trudeau was the only person who darkened his skin while everyone else had costumes.
Trudeau is not the only public figure who darkened his skin for a costume. The U.S. has a bad history of people darkening their skin. People would just darken their skin to mock African Americans in the 19th century and it continued on into the 20th century for movies and shows.
The first person to apologize for this cruel action was Governor Ralph Northam, but he denied that he was in a yearbook photo with a KKK hood.
Also, Governor Kay Ivey apologized for wearing a black face.
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