New York Republican congressman Mike Lawler said alleged images of him in blackface dressed as singer Michael Jackson were meant to be the “sincerest form of flattery.”
Lawler—who is running for re-election in New York’s 17th District against Mondaire Jones, who is a Black former congressman—did not deny the authenticity of the photos in a Thursday statement, reported the New York Times. However, Lawler did attempt to clean up the intention behind them.
“The ugly practice of blackface was the furthest thing from my mind,” Lawler, who identifies as white, told the Times. “Let me be clear, this is not that.”
