FILE - In this Feb. 2, 2019 file photo, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam speaks during a news conference in the Governor's Mansion in Richmond, Va. The Virginia governor pulled out of an event where he would have faced protesters for wearing blackface in the 1980s. The Washington Post reported that Northam cited safety concerns for cancelling his appearance at a Sunday, April 14, 2019, fundraiser for a Democratic state senator in northern Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
April 15, 2019 - 7:44 AM
BURKE, Va. - Virginia's governor pulled out of an event where he would have faced protesters for wearing blackface in the 1980s.
The Washington Post reported that Gov. Ralph Northam cited safety concerns for cancelling his appearance at a Sunday fundraiser for a Democratic state senator in northern Virginia.
The protesters were assembled in Burke by the Fairfax County NAACP and the state Republican Party. Northam had faced calls to step down in February after a racist photo surfaced from his 1984 medical school year book. It included a photo of a person in blackface standing next to someone wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit.
Northam denies being in that photo. But he has admitted to wearing blackface while portraying Michael Jackson at a dance party in the 1980s.
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Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com
News from © The Associated Press, 2019