A Republican Florida lawmaker is refusing to resign over a photo of him in blackface from high school. The photo of State Rep. Anthony Sabatini first came to light during his election campaign, but has resurfaced – along with calls for him to resign – given the attention over the Virginia Governor and now the Virginia Attorney General’s blackface photos, and earlier, the Florida Secretary of State’s blackface photo.
The photo is “of a teenage Sabatini with his face blackened, wearing a gold jewelry, sunglasses and a New York Yankees hat,” the Orlando Sentinel reports. “Sabatini and a high school friend said Tuesday it was a photo of the two of them dressing as each other as a prank.”
Rep. Sabatini says his photo is different from the other blackface photos that have become nationwide scandals, because, he claims, the circumstances are different.
“I’m 16 years old, one of my best friends of the time was black, and we thought at the time – looking back, it was immature – it would be funny to dress as each other,” Sabatini said. “He dressed in my clothes – a Ralph Lauren polo shirt, shorts, Converse – and I dressed in his clothing. … None of us thought 14 years later any of us would be a public figure and the photo would be decontextualized.”
Sabatini’s high school friend supports his intent to not resign.
The Sentinel does not state the year the photo was taken but it likely would have been around 2004 or 2005, given that he is 30 years old now.
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