Canadians ‘had a right to see’ Trudeau photo
Vancouver man claims no political motive in sharing brownface photo
VANCOUVER— A Vancouver businessman and philanthropist who gave Time magazine a 2001 yearbook photo of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in brownface, has released a statement saying the move was not politically motivated.
“Earlier this month I communicated with a reporter from Time magazine regarding the existence of a photograph showing Justin Trudeau wearing Brownface at an event while he was a teacher at West Point Grey Academy,” Michael Adamson said in a Friday statement published by a news wire.
Adamson said he is a “past member” of the West Point Grey Academy community, a school Trudeau taught at, and that he was “aware of gossip surrounding the existence of this photograph.”
Adamson said there was no political motivation for sharing the photo.
“I am not and have never been a member of a political party. I received no payment for releasing this photograph. My decision to provide it to Time magazine was motivated solely by the belief that the Canadian public had a right to see it.”
It is unclear whether Adamson was directly responding to any part of the rampant online speculation about his motivations for sharing the yearbook with Time. Star Vancouver has made multiple attempts to try to contact Adamson, with no response.
There are no publicly listed phone numbers for either Adamson or his wife.
There are no federal or provincial records showing Adamson has been a member of or had donated to any political parties. Incorporation documents show Adamson and Hisami Kumi Adamson were both former directors of the Vancouverbased export company, Kapt-Al Services, until 2018.
According to public records, Adamson is a philanthropist with deep ties to the local private school community.
Adamson graduated in 1980 from the prestigious St. George’s School in Vancouver and donates generously to the school, according to alumni fundraising records.
As for his connection to Time magazine, the reporter who broke the story seems to be close friends with Adamson’s son at Cornell University.
In an article for the Cornell Daily Sun this May, Anna Kambhampaty, now a reporter at Time, wrote a piece about “wasting as much time as possible” in her spare time with her “dear friends Joe and Bennet.”
According to a personal website for Bennet Tadashi Adamson, his nationality is Japanese, British and Canadian and he is currently studying architecture at Cornell. A Bennet Tadashi Adamson also attended St. George’s School in Vancouver.
Earlier this year, Cornell University listed “Michael and Kumi Adamson” as funders for the “Cornell Future Architect Award,” which supports students from under-represented backgrounds to pursue careers in architecture. Kambhampaty and Bennet did not respond to multiple emails and social media messages from Star Vancouver this week.
Even though Time’s article listed Adamson as the source for the yearbook photos, in an interview with NPR, Kambhampaty did not refer to Adamson and stated: “I’d heard about it as a source of gossip in (the) Vancouver community and, you know, contacted a source to see the photo and was sent the yearbook.”
“I am not and have never been a member of a political party. I received no payment for releasing this photograph.” MICHAEL ADAMSON PROVIDED TIME MAGAZINE WITH TRUDEAU BROWNFACE PHOTO