Canadian PM apologizes for photos of him in brownface, blackface

Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau on Thursday apologized for appearing in two photographs and a video in either brownface or blackface.

While campaigning to win next month's Canadian general election for his second term in office, Trudeau found himself politically and morally weakened.

Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau makes a statement in regards to a photo coming to light of himself from 2001, wearing "brownface," during a scrum on his campaign plane in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. [Photo: AP via IC/The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick]

"Darkening your face, regardless of the context of the circumstances, is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface," Trudeau told reporters covering the election campaign in Winnipeg.

On Wednesday, Time magazine published a 2001 photo of then-29-year-old Trudeau dressed as a character from Aladdin, wearing dark makeup on his face, neck and hands, at an "Arabian Nights" spring gala event at a private Canadian school where he was a teacher.

A video revealed Thursday from the early 1990s obtained from a Conservative Party source by Canada's Global News shows Trudeau in blackface, and what appears to be his arms and legs also covered in dark makeup.