A conservative British Columbia city councillor claims a politically motivated hack is responsible for the recent circulation of a photo where he is in a blackface costume for Halloween on a hack to a personal family blog.
The photo of Colwood Councillor Ian Ward was taken in 2007 and posted to his ex-wife's blog. Ward appears in the photo wearing an afro wig, gold chain, and basketball jersey, with his teeth painted gold and his hands and face painted black.
Ward describes the photo in a Sept. 23 statement as "embarrassing," going on to say he has, "No defense other than to say that times change, and people change. I have grown as a person in the intervening almost two decades and consider myself an ally to BIPOC people."
In an interview with CTV News Ward claimed the costume was intended to depict rapper 50-cent. "In today's lens, you look at it and realize it's inappropriate," he said, adding, "I'm not a racist."
Ward's statement refers to the photo's circulation as "the politically motivated actions of the anonymous anti-semitic, anti-law enforcement leftist extremists," adding that he's been targeted by "coordinated online and in-person attacks" since he expressed support for Israel after the Oct. 6 attacks.
The councillor alleges the photo was obtained through a "potentially illegal" hacking of his ex-wife's private blog. "The previously private blog was taken over and turned public, and she was locked out by the hacker," Ward's statement reads.
According to the non-profit Internet Archive, whose "Wayback Machine" allows users to view snapshots of websites by date, the allegedly private blog was archived on Nov. 25, 2023. Additionally, the blog remains public now, but the 2007 post where the author described spending "45 minutes that morning turning Ian into a Black man with stage paint," and accompanying photo, was deleted shortly after the photo's release.
Ward says he has reported the alleged hack to the police. There is currently no publicly available information regarding an investigation.
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