‘FACE MASK’ FIASCO
2 Pritzker campaign staffers fired over Instagram post
Democrat J.B. Pritzker’s gubernatorial campaign fired two workers on Friday after the release of an Instagram photo of one of the staffers wearing a charcoal face mask that resembles blackface.
Campaign officials insisted the incident was not racial in nature and initially said the employees in question would be suspended without pay for exercising poor judgment.
Fellow Democrats condemned the stunt as offensive and unacceptable, although some disagreed whether it was deliberate racism or just “the height of stupidity.”
“What is going on with these idiots!!” tweeted Ald. George Cardenas (12th). “Where were they educated? Forget suspension, be gone!!!”
And within hours, the two staffers were ousted, and their LinkedIn pages gone.
The Instagram post by Carolyn Mehta — whom LinkedIn earlier identified as the campaign’s Deputy Get Out The Vote Director — comes as the Pritzker campaign faces a lawsuit from staffers alleging racial discrimination.
The post was part of an Instagram story put up October 21. Instagram stories feature photos or videos and last just 24 hours but can be preserved or copied. The Sun-Times obtained the image Thursday night.
The screengrab features a campaign worker wearing a “JB & Juliana For Illinois” T-shirt and wearing a black substance on his face. The man is smiling in the image, which appears to have been taken in an office. The word “psycho” has been written on the image in a heart above the photo.
Asked about the picture, Mehta told the Sun-Times in a Facebook message: “It was a charcoal face mask.”
Charcoal face masks are typically used as beauty products to help unclog pores and cleanse the skin. They are mass-produced and available at most drugstores.
In a statement, the Pritzker campaign on Friday morning said both employees had been suspended without pay.
“The individual in the photo had applied and was wearing a charcoal face mask after work hours on the weekend. A fellow employee took a video and posted it on Instagram,” Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Galia Slayen said in a statement. “While it showed poor judgment, neither employee intended to take part in offensive behavior.”
But by the afternoon, the campaign announced “After further investigation, both staffers have been fired.”
In their earlier response, the Pritzker campaign provided a video of the man putting on the face mask, with others nearby laughing. The video was provided on the condition that it not be published.
“You want it to look like a spackled ceiling from the 80s,” the man with the darkened face says.
Mehta in Facebook messages told the Sun-Times that she believed the photo was submitted by a plaintiff of the racial discrimination lawsuit, who follows her on Instagram.
“It was taken completely out of context,” Mehta said, adding that the man in the face mask was “pampering himself after a long day.”
“It was completely harmless,” she said. Mehta also provided the full video she posted, which shows the man doing a Hannibal Lecter impersonation while wearing the face mask.
Mehta has worked for the campaign since June. She previously worked for the Service Employees International Union — one of the unions with an ownership stake in the Chicago Sun-Times — and was also a field organizer for President Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign in Virginia, according to LinkedIn.
Mehta said she has been a “tireless advocate for racial equality” her entire life and “anyone who knows me knows that.”
Jeanette Samuels, one of the lawyers representing plaintiffs in the Pritzker racial discrimination federal lawsuit, applauded the campaign’s response in ousting the employees.
“We appreciate that, at least, the campaign has shown a willingness to meaningfully address racial discrimination,” Samuels said. “Blackface is offensive and ought not to be tolerated, especially in the workplace.”
State Sen. Kwame Raoul, who is the Democratic candidate for Illinois attorney general, applauded the Pritzker campaign for quickly responding to the post.
“This type of behavior is offensive and unconscionable,” Raoul said in a statement. “It shouldn’t be tolerated, and I’m glad to hear that immediate action was taken with those involved.”
But State Rep. Christian Mitchell, D-Chicago, who is also serving as the interim executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois, wrote in a Twitter exchange that the “charcoal mask incident was the height of stupidity, both in the context of current events and American history.”
“Stupidity and intention differ, and one deserves more mercy than the other, though neither is acceptable,” Mitchell wrote.
A series of controversies involving race have dogged the Pritzker campaign. The campaign is being sued by 10 minority campaign workers, who claim racial discrimination. Pritzker has called those allegations “untrue.”
Earlier this year, Pritzker publicly apologized after a secretly recorded conversation between him and then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich surfaced in which Pritzker made insulting remarks about leading African American politicians.
“[THE] CHARCOAL MASK INCIDENT WAS THE HEIGHT OF STUPIDITY, BOTH IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT EVENTS AND AMERICAN HISTORY.”
STATE REP. CHRISTIAN MITCHELL, D-Chicago, interim executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois