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  • Darkening your face, regardless of the context or the circumstances,

  • is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface.

  • I should have understood that then and I never should have done it.

  • I recognise that it is something absolutely unacceptable to do

  • and I appreciate calling it makeup but it was blackface.

  • And that is just not right.

  • It is something that people who live with the kind of discrimination

  • that far too many people do because of the colour of their skin,

  • or their history, or their origins, or their language, or their religion

  • face on a regular basis and I didn't see that from

  • the layers of privilege that I have.

  • And for that I am deeply sorry and I apologise.

  • You told us last night on the plane of all of the different incidences

  • that you recalled.

  • Have you since been made aware or remembered of other incidences,

  • and if so, how many?

  • – I am wary of being definitive about this because the recent pictures

  • that came out, I had not remembered.

  • And I think the question is, how can you not remember that?

  • The fact is I didn't understand how hurtful this is to people

  • who live with discrimination every single day.

  • This has been, personally, a moment where

  • I've had to reflect on the fact that wanting to do good

  • and wanting to do better simply isn't good enough

  • and you need to take responsibility for mistakes that hurt people

  • who thought I was an ally, who hopefully, many of them

  • still consider me an ally, even though this was a terrible mistake.

Darkening your face, regardless of the context or the circumstances,

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