CNN aired a chyron Friday evening labeling Virginia Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam a Republican during a report on the Virginia Democrat apologizing for a racist medical school yearbook photo depicting two men— one of them himself— in blackface and Ku Klux Klan garb.
The chyron aired at 9:00 p.m. EST during a CNN broadcast of Anderson Cooper 360, which showed a video of Northam addressing the inflammatory yearbook photo in a video posted to his Twitter account.
“A few minutes ago, Gov. Northam posted this video on Twitter,” Cooper said, before the segment cut to the video of Northam apologizing.
“My fellow Virginians, earlier today I released a statement apologizing for behavior in my past, that falls far short of the standards you set for me,” Northam said in the video clip posted to Twitter.
As the video of Northam apologizing began, the CNN chyron identifying Northam placed an “R” next to his name instead of a “D.”
The Virginian-Pilot released a page from Northam’s 1984 medical school yearbook Friday, showing one man dressed in a Ku Klux Klan hood and another in blackface on the half of the yearbook page set aside for Northam. Big League Politics first reported on the photo Friday.
Several prominent Democrats, including Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), have called for Northam to resign in light of the photo.
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