Gov. Ralph Northam won himself no defenders on CNN and MSNBC after delivering an unusual press conference Saturday, during which the embattled executive denied an account he had given only yesterday about a blackface photo appearing on his medical school yearbook page.
On Friday, Northam apologized for appearing in the photo, but declined to say whether he was the student in blackface or another student in the photo wearing KKK garb. In today’s press conference, Northam said he had re-assessed memory and is now sure he didn’t appear in the photo, but “vividly remembers” dressing in black face at another event.
After the 40-minute briefing wrapped, MSNBC’s Kendis Gibson appeared stunned, saying, “There you have it. The governor of Virginia and what I must say seemed like a terrible attempt at damage control.”
Al Sharpton told Gibson that Northam should have resigned and mocked his defense of only doing blackface at a Michael Jackson dance competition.
“It was totally unacceptable that he did not resign and he made it worse,” Sharpton said. “He said, ‘I didn’t do black face here, I did black face there’.”
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On CNN, the reaction was just as chilly. Anchor Ana Cabrera asked whether Northam’s defense of only dressing in black face at a dance competition held any water. Her guest, Joel Payne, who works in public relations, said, the entire press conference backfired:
There's an old adage in politics, if you’re explaining, you're losing. And the governor was doing a lot of explaining there. That is not a discussion you want to be having when you’re at the point where he’s at. Putting on my public relations hat for a second, the guidance is to get it out early, get it out accurate, get it out fast. He did none of those. He’s had to come back with a third version of a story this morning. And frankly that made it all worse.”
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Also on CNN, Larry Sabato said the overall reaction to the press conference was negative.
“It’s perfectly reasonable the reaction to this press conference has not been favorable,” Sabato told the panel. “Anyone who’s looking at Twitter knows that.”
In another MSNBC segment on the briefing, contributor and Fordham University professor, Christina Greer, called on the Virginia legislature to impeach Northam — by Monday.
“Iit is high time for the governor to go,” Greer said. “Right now it is an embarrassment and it is time to move forward. Governor Fairfax should be the new governor hopefully by this evening or Monday at the latest. Obviously the legislature has the power to remove this governor and should have serious conversations.”
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In the segments that followed Northam’s press conference on both CNN and MSNBC, no reporter or contributor argued on Northam’s behalf.
