U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler said he was sorry after the New York Times obtained photos of him wearing blackface about two decades ago at a college Halloween costume party where he dressed as Michael Jackson.

U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler said he was sorry Thursday after the New York Times obtained photos of him wearing blackface about two decades ago at a college Halloween costume party where he dressed as Michael Jackson.

The images emerged as Lawler, a first-term Republican, is locked in a competitive reelection fight for his congressional seat in New York’s Hudson Valley.

In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Lawler described himself as a lifelong Jackson superfan who was attempting to pay homage to the pop star.

The Times reported that the photo was taken in 2006 when Lawler was 20. In an image posted by the newspaper, Lawler can be seen wearing a red jacket and posing with an outstretched arm in one of Jackson’s signature dance moves. He used bronzer to darken his face.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    74·
    3 months ago

    The Times reported that the photo was taken in 2006 when Lawler was 20.

    How was it that I was 29 in 2006 and yet I knew full well that blackface is fucking racist and don’t ever wear it even if you’re racist because there’s a thing called the internet while this dumbfuck didn’t?

    • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
      29·
      3 months ago

      I was 23 at that time. Went to college and was in Lambda Chi fraternity at a pretty popular school. Went to tons of parties for about a decade. Never once even heard or saw black face ever in my life until recently hearing about all these politicians that did it. It’s so bizarre.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        13·
        3 months ago

        I don’t ever remember seeing any blackface in college. Did I see bigoted stereotypical bullshit regarding Mexicans and Indigenous Americans? Absolutely. But even in Indiana, I didn’t see blackface.

        Also, I used to emcee comedy nights at a local club back then, so I saw a lot of college students in Halloween costumes. I don’t ever remember blackface. I do remember seeing a group of girls dressed as all the main characters from The Dukes of Hazzard get up and sing Jesse’s Girl at the karaoke night that came after the comedy night ended. That was fun.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      8·
      3 months ago

      I was in high school in the 90’s and I knew it was wrong. Nobody gets a pass beyond the 60’s.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        7·
        3 months ago

        Yes. Because unless he later came out and apologized and demonstrated that he’s changed then it speaks to his character.

            • Woht24@lemmy.world
              1·
              2 months ago

              No.

              What you’re describing is mob outrage, not accountability. He will not suffer from your opinion, nor does he care.

              It’s sad you’re wasting your life caring about this shit.

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
                1·
                2 months ago

                He’s an elected official, possibly losing his next election is literally the prescribed method of accountability.

                • Woht24@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  2 months ago

                  Keyword ‘possibly’.

                  I’m not American, I have no idea who this guy is but based on him being a fuckwit and America’s history, you’ll likely reelect him and his black face for another 4 years.

                  Enjoy!

  • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
    19·
    3 months ago

    Where in the United States was blackface OK in the 90s and 2000s? That kinds of photos seem to turn up pretty regularly.

    • ysjet@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      3 months ago

      Nowhere. Nowhere was it acceptable.

      If they did acceptable things, they wouldn’t have been republican in the first place.

      • crank0271@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        It’s a patchwork of red and blue here, to be sure. Puzzlingly, Lawler apparently attended Manhattan College. You can get away with an awful lot in NYC, but I don’t think I would go out on the street like this (ignoring for a second how ignorant and offensive he demonstrated himself to be).

        It’s been an annoying race to receive all the mailings about and I hope he loses swiftly so he can go back to ranting about immigrants or whatever scary, manufactured nonsense in private.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      4·
      3 months ago

      Backwoods areas and Christian/Libertarian Universities that catered to conservative students.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      31·
      3 months ago

      There are plenty of photos of me at 20. And I’m doing dumb shit in plenty of them. I’m doing dumb racist shit in precisely zero of them.

      It really didn’t take any effort to not be racist.

      • metaStatic@kbin.earth
        9·
        3 months ago

        We were fucking abhorrent and the entire point was to show your friend group you trusted them.

        going to this much effort isn’t that of course but America likes to dial these things up to 11 so who knows, could be a Skull and Bones thing.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        6·
        3 months ago

        I will say growing up where I did it took some effort, but not that much. Once you know whose racist and not to be listened to it’s a lot easier. It’s that time before you figure that out that’s dangerous.