(Reuters) – Florida’s newly appointed secretary of state resigned on Thursday after the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper published photos showing him cross-dressed and in blackface with a T-shirt reading “Katrina Victim” at a Halloween party 14 years ago.
Michael Ertel said in a two-line letter to Governor Ron DeSantis, a fellow Republican, that he was resigning effective immediately. The letter was provided to Reuters by Sarah Revell, communications director for the Florida Department of State.
A spokeswoman for DeSantis said the governor had accepted Ertel’s resignation.
Ertel, 49, was named secretary of state by DeSantis, who was elected governor in November.
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The newspaper published photos it said were taken at a 2005 Halloween party and show Ertel wearing blackface, earrings, a bandanna on his head and something in his purple T-shirt made to resemble breasts.
The T-shirt had the words “Katrina Victim” written on it, in apparent reference to the devastating hurricane that killed more than 1,800 people, caused some $125 billion in damage and devastated many predominantly African-American neighborhoods, the paper said.
Blackface was used in minstrel shows in the 19th and early 20th centuries featuring white performers portraying African-Americans, often in a degrading manner, and is considered to be racist and offensive.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by David Gregorio)
