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Now, Global News has published a video of a young Trudeau in blackface, showing him sticking out his tongue for the camera and raising his arms over his head.

A Liberal spokesperson confirmed its authenticity and said it was filmed in the early 1990s.

Trudeau has conceded it will take some doing to restore his image as a champion of diversity and tolerance.

“I’m asking Canadians to forgive me for what I did,” he said Wednesday night during an emergency news conference aboard the Liberal campaign plane before taking off from Halifax for Winnipeg, where he was scheduled to have events Thursday.

“I shouldn’t have done that. It was a dumb thing to do. I’m disappointed in myself. I’m pissed off at myself for having done it. I apologize for it.”

He added that he didn’t consider it a racist action at the time, “but now we know better.”

“This is something unacceptable and it is racist.”

He said he’ll spend this morning talking to his three kids about “taking responsibility for mistakes we make, about living every day to try to be a better person.” And he said he’ll be spending time talking to visible minority Liberal MPs and candidates, some of whom he spoke with Wednesday evening.

Trudeau’s foes will no doubt also be grappling with the fallout while they go about their more routine campaigning. They all responded Wednesday night, but now have to weigh whether to pile on Trudeau or adhere to the political maxim of never interfering when an opponent is the process of destroying themselves.