A first-term Republican congressman offered a non-apology apology when confronted this week with photos taken of him dressed as Michael Jackson, his face visibly darkened.
Mike Lawler, who represents a district in New York’s Hudson Valley, contends that blackface, a practice long considered racist, was not his intent. Instead, he said in a statement, the costume was meant as a tribute to the king of pop.
One of the pictures, snapped in 2006 campus function at Manhattan University, show a 20-year-old Lawler striking one of Jackson’s signature dance poses, dressed in a “Thriller”-era black shirt and red jacket.
A person familiar with the costume, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told The New York Times that Lawler used bronzer on his face borrowed from female classmates. The congressman confirmed the account.
“I can’t change what happened 18 years ago, but I certainly, with wisdom and age, understand that that is not something I would do today, and certainly understand why people would be upset or offended by it, and for that, I’m sorry,” Lawler told CNN.
“There was no ill intent. There was no effort to malign or make fun of or disparage black Americans. It was really an effort to pay homage to somebody who was a musical idol for me… So this was really not, you know what, I think what could truly be construed as blackface. But I certainly understand why people would be offended by it.”
To some on X, formerly Twitter, Lawler’s response missed the point.
“I don’t believe anything he says,” one person responded. “That’s not how you pay homage. Dressing like him, go for it. Blackface, good Lord, no. Stop making stupid choices, people!” another person said.
Some pointed out that the pop star who had a skin condition had a lighter skin tone or that Lawler could’ve pulled off the impersonation with just a red jacket.
“This makes no sense 2006 Michael Jackson did not require blackface. They were the same color at that point. He did blackface because he is weird,” one person wrote.
There’s no debating Lawler’s fandom.
In a 2023 profile of the rising Republican star, the Daily Beast reported Lawler follows several members of the late entertainer’s family on social media. He also devoted a post on his Instagram account to Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and attended MJ’s concert in New York City four days before 9/11.
Author Randy J. Taraborrelli wrote about Lawler in his 2009 biography, “Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story.” He said Lawler flew from New York to attend Jackson’s 2005 trial in Santa Barbara County on charges he sexually abused children.
Lawler wrote Taraborrelli, “knew the evidence better than even I did.” He helped sneak the future congressman into the trial on the day the mother of Gavin Arvizo — a 14-year-old who testified Jackson molested him — took the stand.
Linda Arvizo’s claim that Jackson held her family captive at Neverland Ranch so enraged Lawler “he couldn’t help but mutter something derogatory under his breath,” Taraborrelli said. “Overheard by the officials, he promptly got tossed right out of the courtroom.”
Arvizo was later charged with fraud and perjury after prosecutors said she received welfare benefits while concealing a $70,000 civil settlement paid to her children; Jackson was acquitted on all charges.
In the acknowledgments sections of his 2009 bio, Taraborrelli offered special thanks to Lawler “for his advice and support on all things Jackson.”
Since entering politics, Lawler hasn’t been quite as outspoken about his love for the multiple Grammy Award winner, though a campaign spokesperson said sometimes he can’t help but show off his moonwalking skills.
While his fandom may have rubbed some constituents the wrong way — a 2019 documentary, “Leaving Neverland,” contained compelling accounts by two men who said Jackson molested them when they were minors — it didn’t seem to hurt Lawler politically.
The blackface controversy, however, could prove damaging. Lawler is engaged in a tight race with Mondaire Jones, a Black former congressman, in a suburban district viewed as a swing seat. According to The Times, the “non-nonsense moderate” is also known to be considering a run for governor in 2026.
Blackface traces back to racist minstrel shows in the 1830s. White people would darken their faces, usually with burned cork or shoe polish, to ridicule Blacks, a practice that continued over time in movies, theaters, and on college campuses.
Ralph Northam, the former governor of Virginia, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among the politicians and entertainers who have had to answer to embarrassing photographs showing them in blackface.
Northam survived calls for his resignation after apologizing for appearing in a racist yearbook photo showing one student dressed in blackface and another in the KKK garb.
Trudeau, who appeared in blackface multiple times as a younger man, said he “didn’t understand how hurtful this is to people who live with discrimination every day.”
“This is something I deeply, deeply regret. Darkening your face, regardless of the context or the circumstances, is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface,” Trudeau continued. “And I didn’t see that from the layers of privilege that I have, and for that I am deeply sorry and I apologize.”
While Trudeau remains Canada’s prime minister, not everyone caught up in a blackface scandal survives unscathed.
In 2018, news personality Megyn Kelly caused a furor when she argued there was nothing wrong with whites donning blackface during a discussion on her NBC morning program. She later apologized, but it wasn’t enough to stop the network from canceling her show.
“But what is racist?” Kelly said, according to The Associated Press. “Truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”
Whether Lawler suffers any consequences for his ill-advised facial bronzing remains to be seen.
