Freshman GOP Rep. Mike Lawler said Thursday he let his enthusiasm as a Michael Jackson “super fan” get the best of him after old photos of him posing as the “Thriller” hitmaker while in blackface at a Halloween party were reported by the New York Times.
The Times released one of two photos posted to the Facebook page of the now-Rockland County lawmaker, with his face and neck darkened by a female classmates’ bronzer, at a Manhattan College gathering in 2006.
Lawler was imitating Jackson’s iconic dance moves in a red leather jacket, black shirt and blue jeans.
“As has been well-documented — most recently by the Daily Beast — I was a so-called ‘Super Fan’ of Michael Jackson, so much so that I was mentioned by name in his biography for my outspoken support of him and the Jackson Family,” Lawler said in a statement.
“I loved Michael’s music, was awed by him as a performer, and by his impact on pop culture. One of my greatest memories is attending his concert at MSG before his untimely death,” he went on. “When attempting to imitate Michael’s legendary dance moves at a college Halloween party eighteen years ago, the ugly practice of black face [sic] was the furthest thing from my mind. Let me be clear, this is not that.”
“Rather, my costume was intended as the sincerest form of flattery, a genuine homage to one of my childhood idols since I was a little kid trying to moonwalk through my Mom’s kitchen,” he added. “I am a student of history and for anyone who takes offense to the photo, I am sorry. All you can do is live and learn, and I appreciate everyone’s grace along the way.”
The images could be a stumbling block for Lawler in his close re-election race against former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones, who is black, to rep the 17th Congressional District in New York.
The most recent public poll gave the Republican a two-percentage-point advantage.
Michael Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli wrote of Lawler’s appearance at the pop star’s 2005 criminal trial for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch.
In “Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story,” Taraborrelli recounts that the future GOP campaign operative and congressman got kicked out of the Los Angeles courtroom because “he couldn’t help but mutter something derogatory under his breath” and was “so disgusted” by the testimony against his idol.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been embarrassed and issued apologies in recent years for similar photos of them in blackface.
In 2019, Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam resisted pressure to resign after a picture allegedly emerged of him and another person in a medical school yearbook: one of whom was in blackface and the other of whom was draped in a white Ku Klux Klan robe.
Northam initially apologized but later said neither med student was him — while admitting that he had once darkened his face to look like Michael Jackson during a dance contest in 1984.
Before rising to become Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau wore brownface at an “Arabian Nights”-themed gala at a private school where he was teaching in 2001. He also apologized in 2019 when a photo of him at the event surfaced.
Originating in racist minstrel shows during the 19th century, blackface has been a cultural taboo since the Civil Rights era, but has persisted in aspects of American cultural life.
Actors, musicians, and comedians have also darkened their faces in various performances
“Laurence Olivier was the last white actor to play Othello, and he did it in 1965,” actor Richard Dreyfuss said during an interview on PBS’ “Firing Line” in 2023. “And he did it in blackface. And he played a black man brilliantly.”
“Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a black man? Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play the Merchant of Venice? Are we crazy? Do we not know that art is art?” he protested.
In the 1990s, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel wore blackface while imitating Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone in sketches for Comedy Central’s “The Man Show.” He didn’t apologize until 2020.
Tensions over the practice’s recent history were high enough two years before that to get SiriusXM podcast host Megyn Kelly fired from NBC News after she said on-air: “Back when I was a kid, that was OK just as long as you were dressing as a character.”
