Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey Apologizes for Wearing Blackface 52 Years Ago

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signs into law the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, after both houses of the legislature passed the bill, in Montgomery, Alabama in a file photograph. Office of the Governor State of Alabama/Handout via Reuters

Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said she was sorry for wearing blackface—painting her face with black paint—decades ago while she was in college.

An interview with Ivey and Ben LaRavia, her fiancé at the time, was posted online this week and quickly circulated. It included LaRavia discussing a skit the pair apparently performed in and said Ivey was wearing blue coveralls with “some black paint all over her face.”