PARK CITY, KS—The latest in a series of disappointing photos revealing celebrities and world leaders in racially insensitive costumes or makeup, the press has released a recently discovered image of Dennis Rader wearing blackface makeup.
This comes as yet another mark against Rader, who, up until 2005 had a seamless reputation as a family man and church president. This was all tainted by the revelation that, under the nickname "BTK," he had secretly tortured and murdered several people in the surrounding area, including children. He then taunted police through letters and by leaving packages for them to be found by citizens in the area.
Since his imprisonment, he's led a relatively quiet life, going nearly untainted by any new scandals. However, with this new development of him in makeup that is largely regarded as symbolizing the belittling and mockery of African Americans, it seems that Rader's reputation may now never recover.
Several celebrities and politicians have been quick to condemn the photo which appears to be from the mid 1990s. Journalist Jake Tapper said of the photo, "Now look, we've all made mistakes. But there are just some things that are unforgivable."
TV commentator Whoopi Goldberg said on her show this week, "What kind of monster can look his wife and children in the eye every day, kiss them on the cheek every night, and live with himself, knowing that he's posed for a photo like this?"
Rader released a statement to the press shortly after the photo's discovery and publication. It states, in part, "I have done many things of which I'm not proud. I had hoped that this one last secret could die with me, but things have a way of coming back to bite me. Although at the time, I thought that wearing blackface was a harmless little fun, I now see just how insensitive it was, and I apologize. Since my trial and imprisonment for the brutal torture, rapes, and several murders I committed in my life without remorse, I feel that I have grown beyond the man you see in that makeup. I hope that we can move past this incident and just let history remember me as a merciless sadist who acted out his sexual fantasies on unwilling victims. Thank you."
Rader is currently serving 10 consecutive life sentences in the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
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