AG’s blackface follows gov and lt. gov imbroglios
A host of stars with histories with blackface
Virginia’s leadership crisis took an absurd turn Wednesday when the man who is second in line should the governor step down admitted he has worn blackface — even as Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam is already under pressure to quit over the same thing and the man who is first in line to replace Northam is embroiled in a sex scandal.
The disastrous domino effect has thrust the Republican state House speaker into the spotlight as the third in line for the top job — and he has his post only by virtue of a GOPer’s name being pulled from a bowl.
Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring — the second in line — on Wednesday issued a stunning statement admitting he wore brown makeup and a wig in 1980 to dress up as a black rapper when he was a University of Virginia student.
“In 1980, when I was a 19-year-old undergraduate in college, some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song. It sounds ridiculous even now writing it,” Herring said.
“But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes — and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others — we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup.”
Herring’s confession came just days after he trashed Northam for the same thing, declaring, “It is time for him to step down.”
Herring, who claims his own blackface shame “has haunted me for decades,” did not immediately offer to resign, saying, “In the days ahead, honest conversations and discussions will make it clear whether I can or should continue to serve as attorney general.
“No matter where we go from here, I will say that from the bottom of my heart, I am deeply, deeply sorry for the pain that I cause with this revelation.”
Questions over the state’s leadership first arose last week over a photo on Northam’s page in his medical-school yearbook showing a man in blackface and another in KKK garb — and the next in line for his job, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, was then accused of sexual assault.
Northam has denied he is either of the men in the racist image and suggested it was placed on the page due to an editorial mix-up — but in doing so, he admitted to having once worn blackface to mimic Michael Jackson.
Meanwhile, the third in line if Northam, Fairfax and Herring all step down is Speaker Kirk Cox — whose Republican Party gained its one-seat control of the Virginia House of Delegates by sheer chance in 2018.
The election that tipped the balance of power to Republicans was decided when the GOP candidate won a tiebreaker in which his name was drawn from a bowl. Cox was then elevated to speaker.
Cox called on Northam to resign over the weekend and on Wednesday said Herring “should adhere to the standard he has set for others or he loses credibility.”
Cox added that the allegations against Fairfax are “extremely serious” and said the governor, Fairfax’s alleged victim and the people of Virginia “all deserve a full airing of the facts.”
Fairfax on Wednesday again denied the allegations that he sexually assaulted Vanessa Tyson in 2004 — right before Tyson came forward to speak out about the alleged incident.
Fairfax said he wanted to emphasize the need to “listen to women when they come forward with allegations of sexual assault,” even as he insisted his “encounter” with Tyson was “consensual.”
“I wish her no harm or humiliation, nor do I seek to denigrate her or diminish her voice. But I cannot agree with a description of events that I know is not true,” Fairfax said.
However, reporters quoted Fairfax denigrating the accuser on Wednesday, allegedly saying, “F--k that bi-ch” in a private meeting. His office denied the claim.
In addition, ABC News reported that Tyson sent Virginia Democratic Congressman Bobby Scott an e-mail about the allegation last year. Scott reportedly did not follow up on her claim.
Tyson issued a statement on Wednesday describing in detail the alleged assault. She has hired the same law firm that represented Christine Blasey Ford in her sex-assault allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
It sounds ridiculous even now writing it. But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes . . . we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup. — Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring
VIRGINIA’S Democratic governor admitted to, then denied (before admitting again to) having at least once dressed up in blackface, and he’s refusing to resign. America needs late night’s most virtuous comic, Jimmy Kimmel, now more than ever. Alas, he has fallen completely silent on the issue.
Then again, if Kimmel did mention the Ralph Northam controversy, now raging into its sixth day, that would put him in the uncomfortable position of explaining his own history in blackface, complete with brown face paint and a stereotypical black southern accent.
Monday, his first day on air after the Northam story broke, Kimmel skated over the story and instead dedicated his opening monologue to the Super Bowl, President Trump’s pre-game interview and then a skit about “The Bachelor.”
On Tuesday, Kimmel ran a segment during the monologue with man-on-the-street interviews, asking pedestrians if they knew who Mike Pence is. Most of them didn’t, but I’d be more interested to know if Kimmel knows who Ralph Northam is.
He has uttered not a single quip about Northam’s admission that he appeared in a college yearbook photo that showed two people, one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan robe. Or about Northam backtracking on that admission, before allowing that, though he wasn’t in the photo, he did once use makeup to darken his face for a Michael Jackson dance contest.
It’s been a cringe-inducing story, but if Kimmel had addressed it, that would have invited us all to look back on the skit he filmed for his former show, “The Man Show,” wherein he mocked NBA player Karl Malone.
“Sometime at night, Karl Malone look up at the sky and say what duh hell goin’ on up der?” Kimmel says in the bit, wearing a basketball jersey and covered in makeup to darken his skin.
Kimmel has used his late-night program in the very recent past to influence big cultural and political debates, like health care, as when he dramatically held his baby son on stage as a sign of op- position to Republican changes to ObamaCare.
NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, who in 2017 expressed great regret for touching Trump’s hair (“I didn’t do it to normalize him,” he told The New York Times), similarly took a pass on the Northam ordeal, and likely for the same reason as Kimmel.
Fallon once appeared in a “Saturday Night Live” skit portraying Chris Rock, complete with makeup and wig.
Certainly other entertainers have dressed in blackface. Billy Crystal used to impersonate Sammy Davis Jr. Actor Ted Danson dressed in explicit minstrel attire at a 1993 roast of Whoopi Goldberg. Paris Hilton did it on her dumb reality show some years ago.
But none of them are on network TV every weeknight and expected to address current events in a way that makes us laugh.
Northam’s laughable strategy in seeing the flaming scandal through was to deny he was in the racist photo after he admitted it. That probably won’t work out.
Kimmel and Fallon’s plan seems to be to ignore their own dabbling in blackface. Maybe they’ll have better luck than Northam.