Some users referred to Trudeau’s actions as a “habit” or pattern of behavior, and others claimed that his do-gooder, humanistic attitude is just a facade in light of the recent incidents.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) September 19, 2019
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) September 19, 2019
— Lorrie Goldstein (@sunlorrie) September 19, 2019
— David Cochrane (@CochraneCBC) September 19, 2019
Video of Trudeau wearing blackface makeup and an Afro wig in the early 1990s surfaced Thursday morning, becoming one of the latest in a string of similar incidents to come to light.
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) September 19, 2019
— Alberta Separation (@albertaseparate) September 19, 2019
The video comes after TIME magazine released a photograph on Wednesday of Trudeau wearing brownface makeup to a 2001 party at a private school in Vancouver where he was a teacher. Hours after the image came to light Trudeau issued an apology and explained that he wore blackface makeup in high school while singing “Day-O,” a traditional Jamaican folk song.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 19, 2019
Brown or blackface refers to makeup used by white people to typically perform stereotypes of black, South Asian or Latin American people. It was used by white performers in 19th century America in minstrel shows - an American form of entertainment - to ridicule blacks.
The latest video, first released by Global News, which is part of the Canadian Global Television Network, shows Trudeau, with blackface makeup on his face and body, raising his hands in the air while laughing and sticking out his tongue. On Thursday morning, the prime minister’s spokesperson Zita Astravas confirmed that the video released by Global News is in fact of Trudeau in the early 1990s.
— Canada Proud (@WeAreCanProud) September 19, 2019
“This is something I shouldn’t have done many years ago,” Trudeau said in his first apology Wednesday, the New York Times reported. “It was something that I didn’t think was racist at the time, but now I recognize it was something racist to do, and I am deeply sorry.”
Following the release of the second video of him in blackface, Trudeau claimed on Thursday that he didn’t mention that particular incident in his Wednesday apology because he did not recall it, claiming that his privileged lifestyle came “with a massive blindspot,” the New York Times reported.
— Charlie Kilo (@clkilgour) September 19, 2019
— Kulvinder Kaur MD (@dockaurG) September 19, 2019
“I didn’t want to talk about it with anyone because I’m not that person anymore,” he added.
The news comes after Trudeau’s former justice minister and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, accused the prime minister of pressuring her to settle corruption charges against Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin. When she refused to do so, Wilson-Raybould, who is an indigenous woman, claims Trudeau relegated her to a lower position.
SNC-Lavalin is facing accusations that its former executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to win contracts in Libya under Muammar Gaddafi's rule. In particular, the company is accused of paying nearly $48 million to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to influence government decisions, Sputnik reported.
