Newly elected New Jersey Republican posted photo of himself in blackface — and isn't sorry

On Friday, The Daily Beast reported that Vincent Kelly, a Republican who was just elected to the town council of Pitman, New Jersey, is facing outrage over a newly surfaced Facebook post of him in blackface — and that he is declining to apologize for it.

"Vincent Kelly, a white GOP candidate who won the Pitman city council elections, had posted a photo depicting him dressed as rapper Flavor Flav at what appeared to be a Halloween party on his Facebook page," reported Corbin Bolies. "The 2015 photo, which still remains on Kelly's page, drew condemnation from the Pitman Anti-Racist Collective, which called for an apology from Kelly Thursday night."

According to the report, Kelly is pushing back on the criticism.

"I didn't put blackface on," said Kelly to the Daily Journal. "I went to a costume party. And it came … with it. This is what you got with it. That's what I did. There was no intention to do blackface, or to belittle African Americans, or anything like that. It was a simple Halloween party."

This controversy comes amid multiple other incidents of local politicians being caught wearing blackface in old pictures. A Republican school board candidate in Monroe, Connecticut, insisted that there was "nothing racist about" his costume depicting Miami Vice Detective Ricardo Tubbs, and a white town councilman in Richmond County, Virginia compared himself to recently controversial Black comedian Dave Chappelle after criticism for a photo of him dressed as musician Randy Watson.