In less than 24 hours, the press has found not one, not two, but three instances of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appearing in brownface and blackface in his past.
TIME reported the first instance on Wednesday, publishing a photo of Trudeau from a 2001 'Arabian Nights'-themed gala at West Point Grey Academy, a private school in Vancouver where he was teaching at the time. The photo came from a school yearbook and showed Trudeau in brownface at the party.
After the first photo entered the news cycle, TIME reported that Trudeau publicly admitted to also wearing blackface 'make-up' when he was in high school; he did so to sing 'Day-O', a song performed by African American singer and activist Harry Belafonte, at a talent show.
Then, Global News reported that it had obtained a video of Trudeau seemingly in blackface while laughing and putting his hands in the air. While there's no current information about when the video was taken, it appears to be at an occasion discrete from the other two situations.
Global News stated that a senior member of the Liberal campaign, of which Trudeau is the party leader, confirmed the Prime Minister is in the video.
Trudeau has admitted to and apologised for the first two instances, saying, 'I shouldn’t have done that. I should have known better and I didn’t. I’m really sorry.' According to TIME, when asked if he thought the photograph was racist, he said, 'Yes it was. I didn’t consider it racist at the time, but now we know better.' Trudeau also said, '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.'
Trudeau is currently in the midst of an election campaign with elections being held in Canada on October 21.
Madison is the digital deputy editor at ELLE, where she also covers news, politics, and culture. If she’s not online, she’s probably napping or trying not to fall while rock climbing.
