Ralph Northam Yearbook Photos: Do Racist Pictures Actually Show Virginia Governor?

Virginia governor Ralph Northam is facing widespread criticism after a racist photo from his medical school yearbook resurfaced recently.

The photo showed a person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe. In a statement Friday, he confirmed his presence in the photo and also apologized for it.

“Earlier today, a website published a photograph of me from my 1984 medical school yearbook in a costume that is clearly racist and offensive. I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now. This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career,” he had said.

However, in a press conference Saturday afternoon, Gov. Northam, a Democrat, said he believes he was not one of the two in the photo.

“My belief that I did not wear that costume or attend that party stems in part from my clear memory of other mistakes I made in this same period in my life. That same year, I did participate in a dance contest in San Antonio in which I darkened my face as part of a Michael Jackson costume. I look back now and regret that I did not understand the harmful legacy of an action like that,” he said, Quartz reported.

It was not just Northam who changed his statements. His medical college roommate Dr. Rob Marsh had initially told local daily Richmond Times Dispatch he wasn’t sure if Northam was either of the people in the photo and that he did not remember the event.

“I don’t remember that ever happening,” he said Saturday. However, in an interview with NBC 12 on Sunday, Marsh claimed he was at the party and he remembers what Northam had dressed as.

“I was at the Halloween party the governor went to and I know what he was wearing exactly,” he said, adding that Northam was dressed as an attorney. “Ralph comes out and I remember he was dressed in a three-piece suit and he had a briefcase.”

Stressing that it wasn’t Northam, Marsh added, “No, I don’t think it’s him. I don’t think it looks like him. Ralph is thinner than the people in the picture.”

However, several Democrats including presidential hopefuls Cory Booker and Kamala Harris took to Twitter, asking the governor to step down.

Former Gov. Douglas Wilder also said Northam had no other choice “but to resign.”

“I stated, earlier, that Gov. Northam’s continuing in office was his choice to make. It is difficult for anyone who watched the press conference today to conclude that he has any other choice ... but to resign,” he tweeted.

In the same yearbook, CNN found few more racist image, however, none of them appeared to show the governor. ​The Wall Street Journal on Sunday stated that Big League Politics, the site that first posted the racist photo on Friday, was a “pro-Trump outfit backed by Republican operatives.”