‘Not Accepted!’: Rep. Mike Lawler’s Apology for 2006 Michael Jackson Impersonation Photo Falls Flat; He Denies It Was Blackface

A first-term Republican congressman offered a non-apology apology when confronted this week with photos taken of him dressed as Michael Jackson, his face visibly darkened. Mike Lawler, who represents a district in New York’s Hudson Valley, contends that blackface, a practice long considered racist, was not his intent. Instead, he said in a statement, the costume was meant as a tribute to the king of pop. One of the pictures, snapped in 2006 campus function at Manhattan University, show a 20-year-old Lawler striking one of Jackson’s signature dance poses, dressed in a “Thriller”-era black shirt and red jacket. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., leaves the Capitol Hill Club after a meeting of the House Republican Conference on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) A person familiar with the costume, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told The New York Times that Lawler used bronzer on his face borrowed from female classmates. The congressman confirmed the account. “I can’t change what happened 18 years ago, but I certainly, with wisdom and age, understand that that is not something I would do today, and certainly understand why people would be upset or offended by it, and for...