Bill Maher made light Friday of the controversy that erupted over Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook after the commotion failing to prevent fellow Virginia Democrats from winning big at the polls this week.
The liberal comic and host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” joked about the scandal during his program’s latest episode on the heels of Virginians voting Tuesday to put Democrats in control of the statehouse for the first time in more than 20 years.
“Six months ago, they wanted to drum out the governor,” recalled Mr. Maher. “Now that there’s a completely Democratic legislature in Virginia, he’s going to – he signed the ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment. There’s going to be gun control legislation, abortion rights legislation, climate change legislation, expansion of Medicaid.”
“This was worth it,” said Mr. Maher. “This was worth a little blackface, right?”
Mr. Northam faced pressure to resign after a photograph from his 1984 medical school year surfaced in February that showed a person wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe and another in blackface. He initially admitted to being one of the individuals in the photo before reversing course the following day and denying being either, albeit while acknowledging that he had darkened his face around the same time when he dressed up like Michael Jackson to compete in a costume contest.
An investigation into the yearbook photo undertaken by the governor’s alma matter, the Eastern Virginia Medical, concluded months later without determining the identity of either of the people pictured.
Democrats are slated to control both houses of the Virginia legislature next year as a result of Tuesday’s elections, marking the first time in more than two decades that the party will by charge of the state Senate, House of Delegates and governor’s office.
“Virginia is officially blue,” Mr. Northam said Wednesday.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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