Alabama Gov.: 'Heavens No, I'm Not Going to Resign'

She apologizes for 1967 blackface skit
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 4, 2019 5:09 AM CDT
Alabama Governor Won't Quit Over Blackface Skit
In this Nov. 6, 2018 photo Republican Gov. Kay Ivey speaks to supporters at an election watch party in Montgomery, Ala.   (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Tuesday that she should not have worn blackface in a college skit decades ago, but she does not plan to resign over something that happened so long in the past. In her first public appearance since issuing a public apology last week, Ivey reiterated that she was wrong to appear in the skit over 50 years ago and that it does not reflect who she is today, the AP reports. The Republican said she has no plans to quit. "Heavens no, I'm not going to resign. It's something that happened 52 years ago and I'm not that person. My administration stands on being inclusive and helping people," the Republican governor said. Ivey last week apologized after a 1967 college radio interview surfaced of her then-fiance Ben LaRavia describing her wearing "black paint all over her face" in a skit called "Cigar Butts" at skit night at the Baptist Student Union.

Her office released the recording after university officials discovered it while working on a project to preserve old university records. Her admission of wearing blackface came after she had told the AP in February that she had never done so. Ivey said Tuesday that she doesn't remember the skit. "I didn't remember being at the Baptist Student Union in any kind of skit like that," she said. "But I've apologized for it. I should not have done that." Ivey's public apology drew a mixed reaction. The Alabama NAACP on Friday called on Ivey to resign. The group noted some of her actions as governor, including signing into law legislation that protected Confederate monuments and any other historic statues from being torn down. Alabama Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, who is African American, said he appreciated Ivey "owning" the incident and apologizing for it.

(More Alabama stories.)

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