Rep. Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.) has acknowledged that he wore blackface as a college student nearly two decades ago, darkening his face as part of a Michael Jackson Halloween costume.
“Obviously I can’t change what happened 18 years ago,” Lawler said in an interview with CNN on Thursday night. “But I certainly, with wisdom and age, understand that that is not something that I would do today, and certainly understand why people would be upset or offended by it. And for that, I’m sorry.”
The New York Times first published the photo from 2006.
Lawler, 38, a freshman Republican, is locked in a closely watched reelection race against Mondaire Jones, a Democrat and former congressman who is Black, in a contest that could help determine which party controls the House. Lawler also has been mentioned as a possible challenger to New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, in 2026.
Lawler said the costume was a tribute to Jackson, a musical idol. Last year, the Daily Beast reported on Lawler’s affection for Jackson. At age 18, Lawler traveled to California to attend Jackson’s criminal trial on charges of molesting a child, according to the book, “Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story.” The biography said that at one point, Lawler was “so disgusted” with some of the testimony “that he couldn’t help but mutter something derogatory under his breath” and was thrown out of the courtroom.
In June 2005, Jackson was acquitted on all criminal charges.
“I loved Michael’s music, was awed by him as a performer, and by his impact on pop culture,” Lawler, a self-described “Super Fan,” said in a statement to The Washington Post on Friday. “One of my greatest memories is attending his concert at MSG (Madison Square Garden) before his untimely death. When attempting to imitate Michael’s legendary dance moves at a college Halloween party eighteen years ago, the ugly practice of blackface was the furthest thing from my mind. Let me be clear, this is not that.”
Lawler, in the photos, is wearing a black shirt, jeans and a shiny red jacket as he strikes a pose similar to one of Jackson’s. Lawler, who is White, darkened his face, a move that has long been considered racist.
“There was no ill intent. There was no effort to malign or make fun of or disparage Black Americans,” Lawler, who said he used bronzer, told CNN.
Lawler told the Times he regretted the costume and understands why people would be offended by it today. During his appearance on CNN, he also said that there was a difference between his costume and other instances of White people shading their skin as part of a demeaning depiction of Black people.
“I think there is a stark difference between dressing up for Halloween and paying homage to somebody you like and respect versus dressing up in black face to demean and dehumanize black people, which is what minstrel shows and blackface, you know, historically was about. And that’s obviously not what I was doing there,” he said.
Lawler is the latest politician to draw criticism after appearing in blackface. In 2013, a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly, Dov Hikind of Brooklyn, defended his decision to wear blackface as part of his costume that year during the Jewish holiday of Purim. “Of course the intention was not to offend anyone,” Hikind said, according to the Times. “That’s the last thing that I ever imagined that would happen, to be very honest. It never crossed my mind.”
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) in 2019 apologized for being one of two people who appeared in a medical school yearbook photograph 35 years earlier. One person in the photograph was in blackface and the other was in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.
“How come @TheRevAl is not leading protests in Virginia? Where is @RevJJackson? All those paid protesters against Brett M. Kavanaugh? Where are they?” Lawler wrote on X in February 2019, in an apparent reference to Northam’s photograph.
On Thursday, Lawler told CNN: “There is a difference between, you know, when Governor Northam, as a college student, dressed up in blackface standing next to somebody in a KKK hood, versus obviously me paying homage to Michael Jackson.”