In a bizarre Saturday press conference, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced that he would not resign over a racist photo from his medical school yearbook. Northam now says he was not one of the men in the picture, though he admitted to once wearing blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume. “I am asking for the opportunity to earn your forgiveness,” Northam said, standing alongside his wife. He claimed that he had never before seen the photo ― which showed a man wearing blackface alongside a man in a Ku Klux Klan outfit ― because he did not purchase the yearbook. He said that when his staff showed him the photo this week, he was seeing it “for the first time.”

Eastern Virginia Medical School

At the press conference, Northam called the photo “offensive, racist and despicable” but stated “I believed then and now that I am not either of the people in that photo.” Northam said that he would remember if he had taken that photo because of his “clear memory of other mistakes I made in this same period of my life.” One of those mistakes, he said, involved donning blackface in a different incident around the same time. “That same year I did participate in a dance content in San Antonio in which I darkened my face as part of a Michael Jackson costume,” he said. Taking questions at the conference, he said of the costume, “I didn’t realize at the time that it was as offensive as I have since learned.” He also volunteered that he “actually won the contest because I had learned how to do the moonwalk.”

Gov. Northam says he once "used just a little bit of shoe polish" to darken his face and compete as Michael Jackson for a dance contest in 1984. https://t.co/Q2MQMaAq7Kpic.twitter.com/zn0Q5m48nQ — CNN (@CNN) February 2, 2019

As the press conference wrapped up, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus released a statement saying it was continuing to call for Northam’s resignation. The caucus said that the governor changing his story damaged his ability to regain the public’s trust. “Our confidence in his ability to govern for the over 8 million Virginians has been eviscerated,” the statement said.

Soon after Northam press conference DNC Chair Tom Perez calls on Gov. Northam to resign.



“I spoke with Governor Northam this morning ... It's time for Ralph Northam to step aside and let Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax serve Virginians as their next Governor.” — Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) February 2, 2019