Chiditarod Issues Apology After Team Wearing Blackface Participates
(CBS) -- The annual Chiditarod features teams dressed in costumes with decorated shopping carts racing to raise money and food for the Greater Food Depository, but the organization is apologizing after one team featured members wearing blackface.
Pictures of the participants surfaced on Instagram over the weekend. One man in blackface was depicting Bill Cosby and another was dressed in a yellow shirt with the word "West" and the number 42 on it, in reference to the Jackie Robinson West baseball team. The organization says they refused requests by organizers and board members to remove their makeup.
"We deeply regret that our inability to respond quickly to this unexpected behavior and come to a consensus about handling this team's refusal to accommodate requests that the make-up be removed resulted in our inaction, and that allowing this team's participation marred the race day experience for our community," Chiditarod said in a statement on their website.
The organization says they will to to create a new policy and an orientation program about what is and isn't appropriate for future participants.