Justin Trudeau Did So Much Blackface! Canadian PM Apologized After Photo Emerged - Then MORE Came Out!

UGH! Why are the hot ones always so dumb???

For real though, this is so incredibly stupid and gross and about the last thing we expected from erudite and oddly flexible statesman Justin Trudeau.

On Wednesday Time magazine published a photo they found in an old yearbook from when the future Prime Minister of Canada was teaching at a private school in Vancouver.

At an Arabian Nights themed party, Trudeau painted his face and wore a turban and robes for a full “brownface” look.

Exclusive: Justin Trudeau wore brownface at 2001 ‘Arabian Nights’ party while he taught at a private school, Canada's Liberal Party admits https://t.co/j3UobfYNIF

— TIME (@TIME) September 18, 2019

Liberal Party media relations lead Zita Astravas confirmed the photo was indeed Trudeau, detailing:

“It was a photo taken while he was teaching in Vancouver, at the school’s annual dinner which had a costume theme of ‘Arabian Nights.’ He attended with friends and colleagues dressed as a character from Aladdin.”

Trudeau himself addressed the photo while on a flight Wednesday evening, seeming to take full responsibility:

“I shouldn’t have done that. I should have known better and I didn’t. I’m really sorry.”

One reporter asked the obvious question, whether Trudeau believed it was racist. He responded directly:

“Yes it was. I didn’t consider it racist at the time, but now we know better.”

He may know better now. But back then when he thought it was OK, this was not an isolated incident.

When asked if there were any other times he did something similar, Trudeau admitted:

“When I was in high school I dressed up at a talent show and sang ‘Day O.’ With makeup on.”

Day oh no don’t tell us….

Exclusive. Sources have confirmed to me that this is THE picture of ⁦@JustinTrudeau⁩ in blackface from high school that he referenaced in his press conference. From the year book at Brebeuf college. #cdnpoli He is singing Day Oh apparently. pic.twitter.com/ivBPoxbXi8

— Evan Solomon (@EvanLSolomon) September 19, 2019

And singing the song of civil rights leader Harry Belafonte and everything. Yeesh.

When asked one more time if there were any other incidents, the Liberal PM did say:

“The fact of the matter is that I’ve always — and you’ll know this — been more enthusiastic about costumes than is sometimes appropriate.”

Surely that doesn’t mean more is coming and oh wait more has already come to light.

Canada’s Global News got a brief video of Trudeau in blackface, smiling and sticking his tongue out and raising his arms.

And yes, the news org confirmed this was NOT one of the other two times but a THIRD instance of darkening his skin for a costume:

Trudeau seemed to actually admit to how awful his actions were, something that must be nice to have from your leaders. We really don’t remember what that’s like…

He said:

“I shouldn’t have done it. I should have known better, but I didn’t. And I’m really sorry. I take responsibility for my decision to do that … it was something that I didn’t think was racist at the time, but now I recognize it was something racist to do…

I’m going to be asking Canadians to forgive me for what I did … it was a dumb thing to do. I’m disappointed in myself, I’m pissed off at myself for having done it. I wish I hadn’t done it, but I did it…

I have worked all my life to try and create opportunities for people to fight against racism and intolerance, and I can just stand here and say that I made a mistake when I was younger, and I wish I hadn’t.”

When asked if he would resign over the disgrace of it all, he demurred, saying instead he needed to call some friends and associates.

Oof, no one wants to be on either side of that phone call.

It may seem shocking for Trudeau not to have considered this all racist back then. After all it was 2001, not 1955. But remember something:

These photos ended up in the yearbook!

That means they got seen by quite a few people, none of whom realized this was racist. Again, it’s astounding how backward people were at the dawn of the information age.

It really has been the more rapid exchange of ideas on the Internet and social media which have helped to shine a light on all the ignorance. The question now is how we treat people who genuinely didn’t know better.

Does the contrition now make a difference? What do YOU think? Should he step down because of these incidents??

He may not have to. The election is on October 21, so…

https://giphy.com/gifs/justin-trudeau-Ta6m3Xkf8Ypm8

Silver lining for the Canadian PM? We looked it up, and it turns out “oops” is the same in French and English. So that makes things easier.

[Image via Euan Cherry/WENN/Global News/YouTube.]