A Republican politician running for a state legislature seat in Louisiana is under fire after a picture surfaced of him in blackface.
Louisiana politics website The Hayride uncovered the photo, which showed Robbie Gatti dressed as Tiger Woods:
In a Facebook post, Gatti confirmed the image was of him and said it was taken 15 years ago at a church festival “where all the volunteers were told to dress as a famous person.”
However, he offered no apologies and even defended it:
“Tiger Woods was at the height of his popularity, as a world champion, and that was who I was dressed as. Shortly after this event, I was ordained into the church. As a medical professional, ordained minister and military officer, I live my life seeing only character and I stand by that. I’m sad that my opponents have taken a good night at church and turned it into negative, political mud, but I’m confident the voters of Bossier will not fall for their desperate attacks.”
A local Republican official said the image was “from a different time.”
“My guess is that people are not going to go back in time, they’re going to view this as a current affairs thing. It’s not,” Mike Collier, chairman of the Bossier Parish GOP, told local ABC station KTBS. “I’m sorry he did it, I’m sure he’s sorry, if he had a chance to do it over he would. It is what it is.”
Gatti is running against three other Republicans in a special election on March 25 for a seat previously held by Mike Johnson, also a Republican. Johnson was elected to the House of Representatives in November.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from The Huffington Post | The Full Feed http://ift.tt/2m6dI7P
via IFTTT
EmoticonEmoticon