Canadian PM Justin Trudeau mocked for new Twitter profile photo after blackface scandal

Canada’s PM has been mocked for a cringe-worthy social media update after being caught out wearing “blackface” on multiple occasions.

Justin Trudeau doesn’t just wear blackface — he has black friends, too.

Canada’s embattled Prime Minister has been widely ridiculed for changing his Twitter profile picture to show him talking to a black person after pictures and video emerged of him wearing blackface on multiple occasions in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

“I kind of feel sorry for him. He is just absurd,” one Twitter user wrote. Another joked, “I can’t be racist, some of the best people in my Twitter profile picture are black.”

One wrote, “Oh my goodness! Justin Trudeau now has a Twitter profile picture of him speaking with a black person. These white liberal elites are the most condescending people on earth!”

The first two photos, published by Time magazine last Wednesday, showed the now 47-year-old in blackface make-up at a 2001 “Arabian Nights” party when he was a 29-year-old teacher at West Point Grey Academy in British Columbia.

A second photo published by The Globe and Mail showed Mr Trudeau wearing blackface and an afro wig at a high school event at Montreal’s Collège Jean-de-Brébeu, some time in the 1980s.

Video of a third, separate instance, said to be from the early 1990s, was then broadcast by Global News. It shows Mr Trudeau again wearing blackface and an afro wig while performing Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat Song at a high school talent show.

Oh my goodness! @JustinTrudeau now has a Twitter profile picture of him speaking with a black person. These white liberal elites are the most condescending people on earth!!! pic.twitter.com/0IyNOWquHq

— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) September 20, 2019

"I can't be racist, some of the best people in my Twitter profile picture are black" -@JustinTrudeau pic.twitter.com/7Q0pxf9vhL

— Michael Diamond (@mtmdiamond) September 20, 2019

“Some of my best friends are black’ Trudeau now has an avatar of him talking to a black person.

I kind of feel sorry for him. He is just absurd. 😂 pic.twitter.com/CEWjlGVIxT

— Katharine Birbalsingh (@Miss_Snuffy) September 22, 2019

Congratulations to @JustinTrudeau's advisors who clearly hate him and want him to keep getting dunked on

— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) September 22, 2019

I like your new profile pic pic.twitter.com/KsiKbYO0Eb

— Truronto (@truronto) September 22, 2019

The photos sparked uproar and international ridicule of the social justice-obsessed PM and threatened to derail his re-election campaign, with the Canadian opposition labelling him a hypocrite and demanding he resign.

“I recognise that it is something absolutely unacceptable to do,” Mr Trudeau told a news conference on Thursday. “I didn’t see that from the layers of privilege that I have. And for that I am deeply sorry, and I apologise. I have always acknowledged I came from a place of privilege, but I now need to acknowledge that comes with a massive blind spot.”

Justin Trudeau in 2001. Picture: West Point Grey Academy/The Canadian Press via AP

And in high school performing at a talent show. Picture: Global News

The Canadian PM has been ridiculed for his new Twitter profile picture.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mr Trudeau did not answer when pressed on exactly when he came to believe blackface was wrong. “I think there are a lot of Canadians through the past days who are reflecting on and learning more about the racist history of blackface,” he said.

“And that … certainly is something that we are all talking about and I am certainly reflecting on deeply as we pledge ourselves as a party and as a government to move forward to continue to fight racism, discrimination and intolerance wherever it may be found.”

Canada heads to the voting booths on October 21. Public reaction to the images has been mixed, and experts say it is too early to tell whether the scandal will radically shift votes, with the first polls conducted after the images emerged showing the Liberals losing a little ground to the Conservatives.

Arriving in Toronto on Friday, home to key ethnic areas that he needs to win, Mr Trudeau attempted to pivot back to policy issues with an assault rifle ban. “Hi Mr Blackface! Nice to meet you,” one woman said to the PM as he strolled in Toronto’s Greektown neighbourhood.

Many Canadians said they were disappointed but not surprised by the images. “It is demeaning. The colour of our skin is not a costume prop,” said Samya Hasan, executive director for the Toronto-based Council for Agencies Serving South Asians, adding she was unsurprised because despite Mr Trudeau’s reputation as a vocal progressive, he is still “a privileged white person”.

Several Liberal cabinet members came out in support of Mr Trudeau, including Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s first Sikh defence minister, who said the photos “do not represent the person he is now”.

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, one of the most prominent members of the Liberal cabinet, said she was “troubled and disappointed” but accepted Mr Trudeau’s apology and had full confidence in him as party leader.

US President Donald Trump, who has clashed with Mr Trudeau in the past, said he was “surprised by the number of times” he had dressed in blackface, while late-night comedians excoriated the Prime Minister.

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— with Reuters