A Washington, D.C.-based news outlet deleted a tweet that claimed Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was wearing a black face mask, which sparked comparisons to allegations that the governor wore blackface decades ago.
Northam held up a dark green face mask over his face during a Monday press conference regarding guidelines for how to combat the coronavirus, but it was NBC4 Washington’s description on social media that got attention.
“In a striking moment, Gov. Ralph Northam put on his own black face mask. He urged every Virginian to do the same,” the station tweeted.
It deleted the tweet shortly after and followed up by writing, “Upon closer examination, the governor’s face mask appears to be dark green.”
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I am laughing so hard right now. pic.twitter.com/tm8UvptJPI
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) April 6, 2020
NBC4 apologized in a subsequent tweet, saying, “Correction: We made a misjudgment in a tweet about Gov. Northam’s face mask. We sincerely apologize for the error.”
Correction: We made a misjudgment in a tweet about Gov. Northam’s face mask. We sincerely apologize for the error.
— NBCWashington (@nbcwashington) April 6, 2020
In the time the original post remained on Twitter, some users were quick to make jokes about Northam’s controversial past.
Last spring, a photo from Northam’s 1984 medical yearbook that showed two men, one wearing Ku Klux Klan garb and another wearing blackface, resurfaced. He initially apologized for the incident but later walked back the admission of guilt. A monthslong investigation could not discern whether it was Northam in the photo despite extensive interviews and months of research. He did, however, admit to having “darkened my face” as part of a Michael Jackson costume for a dance contest that same year.
