Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) is taking heat after photos emerged Thursday of the congressman with, according to the New York Times, his face “visibly darkened” as part of a Michael Jackson Halloween costume in 2006.
The photos obtained by the New York Times depict a 20-year-old Lawler, then a college student, wearing a red jacket similar to Jackson’s iconic accessory and striking a “Thriller” pose.
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Lawler, 38, told the Times his costume was “truly the sincerest form of flattery, a genuine homage to my musical hero since I was a little kid trying to moonwalk through my mom’s kitchen.”
“The ugly practice of blackface was the furthest thing from my mind,” the moderate lawmaker added. “Let me be clear, this is not that.”
Lawler said, “I am a student of history, and for anyone who takes offense to the photo, I am sorry,” adding “all you can do is live and learn.”
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Lawler appeared on CNN on Thursday night to defend himself, telling host Kaitlin Collins “I certainly with wisdom and age understand that that is not something I would do today.”
“I’ve always loved Michael Jackson’s music and his dance moves and his ability to entertain,” he said. “Anyone who knows me knows that, and people who come visit my D.C. office can see today an Andy Warhol painting of Michael Jackson hanging in my office.
“So this was really not, you know, what I think would, could truly be construed as blackface, but I certainly understand why people would be offended by it, and for that I’m sorry,” Lawler concluded.
The congressman said “no, of course not” when asked if it was ever acceptable for a white person to put on blackface.
“Given the history in America, and given what we have seen with slavery, with racism, and the civil rights movement, obviously we should not and cannot tolerate the demeaning and dehumanization of black people, and that is not something that certainly I would do or engage in or tolerate,” he told Collins.
Lawler claimed his situation should be differentiated from that of former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA), who in 2019 denied he was the student shown wearing blackface in a photo on his page in his 1984 medical school yearbook. Northam had first acknowledged he was in the photo and issued an apology before reversing course.
“Intent here is important, and 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,” he said.
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Northam did readily admit he “participated in a dance contest in San Antonio in which I darkened my face as part of a Michael Jackson costume” in 1984 – the same year the yearbook was published.
Lawler was well known throughout his college campus for his love for the disgraced entertainer. The Times reports:
In 2005, as a high school senior, Mr. Lawler flew from New York to California to attend parts of Jackson’s criminal trial. The pop star had been charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch; the case ended in acquittal.
J. Randy Taraborrelli, a Jackson biographer, helped get Mr. Lawler into the courtroom and recalled in his book that the young fan had been “so disgusted” by testimony against Jackson “that he couldn’t help but mutter something derogatory under his breath.” Mr. Lawler was removed from the courtroom, according to Mr. Taraborrelli’s biography, “Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story.”
The courtroom episode was reported last year by The Daily Beast in an article detailing Mr. Lawler’s fandom. The Republican has often invoked it during his political rise. As a campaign operative in 2014, he performed Jackson’s famed moonwalk in a documentary-style spoof.
The first-term lawmaker was one of 25 intransigent Republicans who voted against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the House Republican Conference’s chosen nominee for Speaker at the time, on the floor of the House in October 2023.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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