A shut Home race in New York was rocked by an October shock when images surfaced of the incumbent Republican congressman in blackface as a part of a Halloween costume years in the past.
Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., who’s white, is pictured dressed like pop sensation Michael Jackson, full with bronzer to darken his face in an October 2006 picture reported by the New York Instances. Lawler doesn’t dispute the picture’s authenticity and has issued an apology to anybody who has taken offense, although he stated it was not his intention to decorate in blackface.
“As has been well-documented – most recently by the Daily Beast – I was a so-called ‘Super Fan’ of Michael Jackson, so much so that I was mentioned by name in his biography for my outspoken support of him and the Jackson Family. I loved Michael’s music, was awed by him as a performer, and by his impact on pop culture,” Lawler stated in a press release. “One of my greatest memories is attending his concert at Madison Square Garden before his untimely death.
“When trying to mimic Michael’s legendary dance strikes at a school Halloween occasion eighteen years in the past, the ugly follow of black face was the furthest factor from my thoughts. Let me be clear, this isn’t that. Relatively, my costume was supposed because the sincerest type of flattery, a real homage to one in all my childhood idols since I used to be somewhat child making an attempt to moonwalk via my mother’s kitchen.
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Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., talks with reporters after a gathering of the Home Republican Convention within the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Photographs)
“I am a student of history and for anyone who takes offense to the photo, I am sorry. All you can do is live and learn, and I appreciate everyone’s grace along the way,” he stated.
The 38-year-old Lawler, a average first-term lawmaker from the Hudson Valley, is seen as a rising star within the GOP convention who’s working for re-election in a suburban swing district. His Democratic opponent in New York’s seventeenth Congressional District is former Rep. Mondaire Jones, a Black man. The Jones marketing campaign didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Images present Rep. Michael Lawler pictured in October 2005, dressed as pop star Michael Jackson full with bronzer to darken his face. Lawler didn’t dispute the authenticity of the images. (Printed by the New York Instances)
The race is one in all 22 toss-up contests which will nicely decide which occasion controls the Home of Representatives subsequent 12 months, based on Fox Information’ Energy Rankings.
Lawler shouldn’t be the primary politician to be wrapped up in latest controversy over a fancy dress that resembled blackface. Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, confronted calls to resign after a photograph from his medical faculty yearbook surfaced which pictured males in Ku Klux Klan robes and blackface. Northam denied he was within the picture however admitted he as soon as used shoe polish to darken his face for a dance contest within the Eighties through which he too dressed like Jackson.
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Lawler is up towards former Rep. Mondaire Jones. (Getty Photographs)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau additionally confronted controversy in 2019 when images surfaced of him sporting blackface in 2001. The prime minister stated in an interview after the truth that he couldn’t give a definitive quantity on how many occasions he had worn blackface.
Lawler was photographed in his Jackson costume in New York Metropolis when he was a sophomore at Manhattan Faculty, now Manhattan College, a Catholic faculty within the Bronx the place solely three p.c of the coed inhabitants is Black, based on the New York Instances.
Lawler, who was class valedictorian in 2009, was well-known for his love of Michael Jackson, the paper reported.
When Lawler was a highschool senior in 2005, he flew from New York to California to attend elements Jackson’s prison trial. The musician had confronted allegations of molesting a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch, although Jackson was ultimately acquitted.
Michael Jackson performing “Thriller” on stage at Madison Sq. Backyard as a part of his Dangerous Tour in 1988. (George De Sota (ID 5073478)/Redferns)
Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli recounted in his e book how he helped get Lawler into the courtroom, based on the Every day Beast. Taraborrelli wrote in “Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story” that the teenager had been “so disgusted” by testimony towards Jackson “that he couldn’t help but mutter something derogatory under his breath.”
In Taraborrelli’s account, Lawler was overheard by courtroom officers and “tossed right out of the courtroom.”
The images in query have been posted to Fb and depict Lawler wearing a jacket harking back to the one Jackson wore within the “Thriller” music video.
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The New York Instances cited an individual conversant in the costume who stated that Lawler had used bronzer borrowed from feminine classmates to darken his pores and skin.
Lawler’s 2022 victory was one in all a number of Republican victories in essential New York districts, regardless of the state’s standing as reliably blue general. The seventeenth consists of stretches via 4 suburban counties exterior of New York Metropolis: Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester.
Fox Information Digital’s Emma Colton and Emily Robertson contributed to this report.
