Alabama Governor Kay Ivey: I’m Really Sorry I Wore Black Face In College Skit
[guest post by Dana]
At this point, shouldn’t we just assume that every white politician in the Deep South who is over 40 years of age wore black face during their college years at least one time? Because, you know, it sure seems like a thing:
Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday issued an apology for appearing in a racist sketch during her time as an undergraduate at Auburn University in the 1960s.
Audio surfaced of a 1967 interview given by Ivey and her then-fiance, Ben LaRavia, in which LaRavia recalled a party at Auburn’s Baptist Student Union. Ivey participated in at least one sketch at the party, where LaRavia said she wore blackface.
“She had on a blue coveralls, she had put some black paint all over her face, and we were acting out this skit called Cigar Butts,” LaRavia said in the interview, which the governor’s office released with Ivey’s statement. “I could not go into a lengthy explanation, but to say the least, I think this skit, it did not require a lot of talent, as far as verbal talent. But it did require a lot of physical acting, such as crawling on the floor looking for cigar butts and things like this.”
LaRavia says Ivey got a “big reaction” from the audience. Ivey then says “that was just my role for the evening” before turning the discussion to a story about being unable to remember a joke for the end of the show.
Although Ivey doesn’t remember being in the skit, she nonetheless apologized for her participation:
“[I] sincerely did not remember the sketch” but said she would “not deny what is obvious.”
“While some may attempt to excuse this as acceptable behavior for a college student during the mid-1960s, that is not who I am today, and it is not what my Administration represents all these years later.”
“As such, I fully acknowledge — with genuine remorse — my participation in a skit like that back when I was a senior in college.
Ivey informed the leaders of the Alabama Legislature to express her regrets. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, who is African American, said after Ivey called him to personally apologize, that:
If the governor “could take ownership of it,” they could move forward.
Dear Gov. Ivey,
It’s okay. Nobody cares. Not really. Sure, you may have to endure a few difficult days or weeks of criticism and media scrutiny, but when the hullabaloo dies down, you’ll still be the sitting Governor.
*waves at Gov. Northam*
Oh.
Wait.
Sweet Home Alabama, I forgot…
Ignore what I just said…
…you know, Gov. Ivey, it’s just a crying shame about that pesky “R” after your name because, little lady, you’re really screwed. But be sure to pick up a copy of Roots anyway…
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
Hoo boy.
So glad that with all the horrible decision making and bad behavior of my youth and early adult years, wearing black face is not on the Big Regrets Of My Life list.
Dana (fdf131) — 8/29/2019 @ 3:45 pmIf the governor “could take ownership of it,” they could move forward.
Which, you know, she is doing by calling the legislative leaders in order to let them know and to apologize.
What I am sure the senate minority leader means is that she now has to placate the grievance mongering communities by endorsing every single item they demand. Look at how Gov. Northam is trying to reinvent himself as the wokest of the woke white boys.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/29/2019 @ 3:52 pmFunny how none of these pols can remember doing this crap.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/29/2019 @ 3:52 pmI didn’t realize that Governor Ivey was so old: Wikipedia says she turns 75 in October. She might want to bow out when her term is up in 2023.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/29/2019 @ 3:54 pmFunny how none of these pols can remember doing this crap.
In fairness, I’m a generation younger than she is but a lot of my college years are kind of a blur. I’m pretty sure I never donned blackface because that stuff was kind of archaic by my time, but I’m quite sure I did some dumb stuff that I can no longer recall.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/29/2019 @ 3:55 pmThat’s how “they” get away with it. They pick on the old, sick, and weak, not someone who will say: “It was fun. I wanna do it again.”
nk (dbc370) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:02 pmI know Dana isn’t big on us commenting on a female politician’s physical appearance, but. . .
Governor Ivey was quite the dish as a young Alpha Delta Gamma sister at Auburn! I’m reminded of Babs Jansen in Animal House.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:03 pmSeems like an appropriate response on her part. Unless there’s been a consistent pattern of racism on her part over the years (see Steve king for an example) I figure this isn’t a big deal. But I’m not black, so I don’t have a lot of hurt feeling about discrimination to deal with. Ymmv
Time123 (b39e33) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:16 pm5… at nearly 75, she shouldn’t be relying on a drug-induced haze excuse, so what will she hang it on?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:16 pmCould you imagine being in college with 100% of everyone you see having a camera potentially rolling , all the time?
In the 80’s the camcorder was a giant 10lb camera, with a 15lb recorder on a strap over your shoulder, with a battery that last for 8 minutes. When Ivey was in college, did they even have sound? What I’m saying is I’m getting old, and she’s more so.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:24 pmso is there any footage, not that it mattered for quilted northam, it’s like that malfunctioning camera outside Epstein’s cell,
https://dailycaller.com/2019/08/29/outlets-reporting-omar-campaign-finances-affair/
narciso (d1f714) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:24 pmGranny Ivey? Wow….
MJN1957 (85ea38) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:26 pmNothing happened to the Gov of Va. Seems black folks were A-ok with it. what’s good for the D’s is good for VA is good for Alabama.
Case closed.
rcocean (1a839e) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:33 pm7… I will not quote Willem Dafoe’s character’s line in To Live and Die in LA about where his antagonist’s taste resides.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:35 pmand the rapist lt governor, moves on to square two, but shouldn’t there be actual evidence before there is such an apology, doug jones from hellboy, can put the wrong man in jail, Richard jewell, let the actual perpetrator go on to murder people, and hide out in the Carolina mountains, for 6 years, but that’s less important than the ambulances Gloria alred lines up
narciso (d1f714) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:36 pmso there was less to the ap and times stories then met the eye,
https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2019/08/29/cabinet-at-risk/
narciso (d1f714) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:42 pmNo one complains about Gene Wilder wearing black face in Silver Streak. But then that was a comedy. This is lunacy.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 8/29/2019 @ 4:55 pmyou know, Gov. Ivey, it’s just a crying shame about that pesky “R” after your name because, little lady, you’re really screwed.
And it is because of such double standards that we got Trump.
Bored Lawyer (423ce8) — 8/29/2019 @ 5:02 pmThat’s not how it works, rcocean. That’s not how any of it works.
Dana (fdf131) — 8/29/2019 @ 5:12 pm@17. Lunacy?
‘You ain’t heard nothing yet’–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPmBPvHzF2c
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/29/2019 @ 5:36 pmPeople of today crap on Jolson, but he was quite the advocate for the inclusion and advancement of black entertainers. Jolson was a white knight wig-e- in todays parlance.
urbanleftbehind (ef3d5e) — 8/29/2019 @ 6:20 pm@21. ‘Yes, but…’ is a hard sell these days. Jerry Lewis was an advocate for MD early on but that didn’t stop him from making fun of the handicapped to further his career.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/29/2019 @ 6:49 pmDifferent generation. I don’t get it, but Northam made the rules. Follow them.
NJRob (2e6fbf) — 8/29/2019 @ 7:20 pmJust read on twitter (and google backs it up) we have more Governors serving today who wore black face than black governors.
Time123 (235fc4) — 8/30/2019 @ 5:13 amWhat someone did in the 60s isn’t really comparable to what someone did in the 90s. See the definition of “unreconstructed” to understand the difference.
Kevin M (e4323c) — 8/30/2019 @ 7:49 am