‘It Is Offensive and Shameful’: White Politician Deletes Accounts, Apologizes After Blackface Photo as a Halloween 50 Cent-Inspired Blackface Photo Resurfaces

Every week, there seems to be a new revelation that a white politician wore blackface at some point in the past. A photo of a city councillor in British Columbia dressed up as Grammy winner 50 Cent for a 2007 Halloween party is now making the rounds on social media. The photo of Colwood Councillor Ian Ward was first published on a personal family blog maintained by his ex-wife and came to light on Sept. 13. In addition to his hands and face painted black, Ward appears to have gold-colored teeth and is wearing a Washington Bullets basketball jersey, a gold chain, and a wig. Resurfaced photo of Colwood Councillor Ian Ward in blackface. (Photos: Facebook/Ian Ward, westcoastwards.blogspot.com) The costume took 45 minutes to complete, according to the November 2007 blog post, which has since been deleted but was archived on the nonprofit Wayback Machine. “Wednesday was Halloween so after spending 45 mins that morning turning Ian into a black man with stage paint & dropping him off at work (it was freakin hilarious but scared the crap out of Liam who kept crying every time Ian would say something to him), I met up with the mommy group for...