CAMPBELLFORD, Ont. – A former police officer who donned blackface for a Halloween party and was led around on a rope by a friend dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman says it was a stupid mistake.
Terry Nunn, who was Toronto’s police officer of the year in 1981, said Thursday he is in "no way, shape or form" a racist and neither is his friend Blair Crowley.
"I don’t believe in the KKK. It was a Halloween mistake is what it was," he told Toronto radio station AM640.
The two won a prize for most original costume at the Royal Canadian Legion party in Campbellford, Ont., on Saturday night. The party was open to the public and neither man is a legion member.
But what was supposed to be a night of fun to celebrate Halloween has turned into a nightmare of controversy for the pair.
"Blair admits it was in bad taste and he should have thought more about it before he did it," his wife Marsha Crowley said from their home in Hastings on Thursday.
Both she and Nunn said no one at the party complained about the costumes. But she admitted not a lot of thought went into the getups.
"It was just a last-minute ‘Well, what am I going to wear? There’s a bedsheet. Well I’m not going as a ghost.’ And we had a piece of bristol board and kind of rolled it up and that was his costume," said Crowley.
Her husband also wore a Confederate flag on his back.
Nunn tried face paint to darken his face but wasn’t happy with the result so he tried another product.
"He used that black-coloured hairspray. The stuff I guess guys use to make it look like they got some hair," she said.
Crowley said her husband is no racist, adding his best friend is black.
"They’re two great guys. They’re not racist. They didn’t mean nothing by it. They’re really sorry it’s gotten this far but they can’t take it back. What’s done is done," Crowley said.
She described her husband as a "teddy bear" and a motorcycle buff who has for years taken part in charity rides, including the Ride for Sight.
Like Nunn, Crowley and her husband were surprised to hear someone had complained and police were asked to investigate, because no one complained at the party.
While Blair Crowley has continued to go to work, his wife has kept their son home from school for a couple of days.
Nunn, a former director of the Toronto Police Association, told the radio station that people from work have been asking him what he was thinking.
The former officer, who ran for Trent Hills council in the recent municipal election but finished last among the candidates, said he may have to move out of Campbellford if the controversy continues.
"I’m totally embarrassed. It’s affected my private life. Obviously it’s affected the town and the mayor is ticked off about it," said Nunn, while apologizing on the radio to Trent Hills Mayor Hector Macmillan.
The mayor said Thursday he knows who Nunn is but he hasn’t spoken to either of the men since the incident.
"They did a dumb thing. They did a stupid thing and have apologized for it and it’s time to move on," he said.
Legion officials have decided to close the Campbellford branch indefinitely while they assess what happened and what steps should be taken.
Macmillan said the timing couldn’t be worse, with the yearly poppy campaign in full swing and Remembrance Day next week.
"It’s too bad something like this is overshadowing that," the mayor said.
A spokeswoman for the legion’s Ontario Command said it was hoped the investigation would be complete in time for the Remembrance Day service.
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