'Beat it': Twitter reacts after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam admits wearing blackface for a Michael Jackson costume

Erin Donnelly
·Yahoo Life Senior Editor
Gov. Ralph Northam admitted to once wearing blackface for a Michael Jackson impersonation. (Photo: Alex Edelman/Getty Images)
Gov. Ralph Northam admitted to once wearing blackface for a Michael Jackson impersonation. (Photo: Alex Edelman/Getty Images)

Amid calls for his resignation and President Trump’s tweeting that his alleged behavior is “unforgivable,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam hosted a press conference Saturday to address reports that he appeared in a photograph for his 1984 medical school yearbook in which two men — one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan robe — are shown.

Despite issuing an apology on Friday when the photo was made public, Northam has since insisted that he is neither of the men pictured.

“Yesterday I took responsibility for content that appeared on my page that was clearly racist and offensive,” he said in Saturday’s press conference. “I will not excuse the content of the photo. It was offensive, racist and despicable. I was seeing it for the first time. I was unaware of what was on my page. I was appalled that they appeared on my page.

“I believe now I am not either of the people in that photo,” he continued. “It is disgusting, offensive, racist.”

But during the same press conference, he did admit that he has worn blackface before — to imitate Michael Jackson in a talent show.

Michael Jackson circa 1984. (Photo: Joe Traver/Liaison)
Michael Jackson circa 1984. (Photo: Joe Traver/Liaison)

“I didn’t realize at the time that it was as offensive as I have since learned,” Northam told reporters about using shoe polish to darken his face for the performance, which he said took place in San Antonio, Texas, when he was 25.

“I had the shoes, I had a glove, and I used just a little bit of shoe polish to put under, or on my cheeks,” Northam said. “The reason I used a very little bit is because, I don’t know if anybody has ever tried that, but you cannot get shoe polish off.”

Northam added that he moonwalked for the show. When a reporter asked if he could do still moonwalk, the Democrat paused before his wife, Pam, responded that it was “inappropriate circumstances.”

Northam acknowledged that his costume was “wrong” but argued that wearing a Michael Jackson costume was less offensive than posing for the blackface-and-KKK photo that appears on his yearbook page, which he denies doing.

The Michael Jackson confession has sent commentators on both sides of the aisle reeling.

“I think he further damaged himself,” Rev. Al Sharpton said on MSNBC. “And since he loves Michael, he should go back to the mansion and play ‘Beat It’ and start packing.”

Northam continues to resist calls from both parties to resign.

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