St. Albert fire chief Bernd Gretzinger issued an apology a week ago for dressing up in blackface. This week, a photo of the incident surfaced.
Gretzinger, who has been suspended without pay for two weeks, told the Gazette he was sorry for his actions.
“I apologize and didn’t mean to hurt anybody,” Gretzinger said.
Three years ago, Gretzinger was invited to a party where everybody dressed up as their favourite musician. Gretzinger, who idolizes Lenny Kravitz, dressed up as the rock and roll legend while wearing blackface. He says he did not realize it was inappropriate at the time.
Gretzinger said he removed a photo of the incident from Facebook around a year ago as he came to the gradual realization that it was inappropriate.
“I started looking at it and realized it was inappropriate for me to have a picture like that,” Gretzinger said.
“We are at a place where it’s definitely not acceptable.”
On Sept. 19 of this year, Gretzinger posted on his Facebook page an apology for the photo.
“I just wanted to make sure everybody was clear about where I stood and where my heart was with this. It's just a lot easier to hide and not say anything and let things fade away. I just felt if I stated that and was honest about it then people would know,” Gretzinger said.
In the post, Gretzinger explained to his friends that he had dressed up as Kravitz but had removed the photo from his Facebook page one year ago.
“I now realize this is black face and racially insensitive and despite my intent at the time must identify it wasn’t appropriate and shouldn’t have done it. I assure everyone it will never happen again. For anyone reading this that was offended by my actions please accept my sincere apology,” the post read.
