Virginia governor Ralph Northam is trying to salvage his governorship from a racism scandal by admitting he won a dance contest by moonwalking in blackface. It’s not going to work, and his bizarre behavior has left him with no allies.
Northam says he did blackface at a dance contest in San Antonio that same year « as part of a Michael Jackson costume, » but insists he isn’t in the yearbook photo pic.twitter.com/T9SUeRqv0m
Northam explains that his actual blackface incident was at a dance contest where he dressed as Michael Jackson and put shoe polish on his face. He says he won the contest because he learned how to moonwalk. pic.twitter.com/BXFC4wVJDq
When an incredulous reporter then asked the governor if he remembered how to moonwalk, Northam seemed to actually consider giving a demonstration before his wife dissuaded him:
Video of when Ralph Northam gets asked by a reporter if he can still moonwalk. He looks around as if for space – only to be cut off by his wife who says, « inappropriate circumstances. » pic.twitter.com/jcV2VJCtoD
As far as how the racist yearbook photo came to end up in the yearbook and who was in it, if not him, Northam offered some theories. He said that after speaking with some of his classmates, it came to his attention that numerous photos had been published in the wrong spots in that year’s yearbook, which he claimed he did not buy at the time and had not seen until Friday. He also said that an investigation was underway and he hoped to be able to release more information soon, including the results of a facial recognition software analysis of the two people in the photo. He also pointed out, as media reports already had, that there were other photographs of people in blackface throughout the yearbook, and said none of those were him either.
