Virginia Governor Ralph Northam held a press conference on Saturday to declare that he did not think he was in the racist photo unearthed from his old yearbook, and that he was not planning to resign. He added that he wore blackface once to dress up like Michael Jackson at a dance party in San Antonio.

The surreal press conference was packed with twists: Northam provided a wild non-explanation for how the photo ended up on his page. He confessed to “darkening” his face for the Texas dance contest. He gave a half-assed explanation of why his yearbook nickname was “Coonman.” Later, when asked about the dance contest, he said he won because he learned how to moonwalk. He then made a joke about how hard it is to remove shoe polish from his face — but denied that qualified as blackface.

The presser — which you can watch here — naturally sent Twitter into a tailspin. Check out the running commentary of his train wreck here:

This Northam presser is surreal

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 2, 2019

Northam admits to a different episode of blackface when he “darkened my face” to look like Michael Jackson

— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) February 2, 2019

Wait, so Northam is *admitting* that he did use blackface at some point but that it’s not him in the photo?!

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) February 2, 2019

Northam now appears to be trying to get ahead of other damaging stories, says he once “darkened his face” as Michael Jackson for Halloween.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 2, 2019

Wait—he is telling us he put on blackface in another instance, a Michael Jackson dance contest, to convince us he didn’t do it in the instance pictured in the yearbook??

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) February 2, 2019

who among us has not participated in a San Antonio dance contest?

— Colby Hall (@colbyhall) February 2, 2019

Wtf is going on

— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) February 2, 2019

Make it stop. https://t.co/5zqNEFAdMk

— adrienneelrod (@adrienneelrod) February 2, 2019

Northam claims he did wear blackface to be in a Michael Jackson costume.. which he claims caused his confusion that the picture in the yearbook was him.

This is like watching a trainwreck in slow motion.

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) February 2, 2019

Seems like to believe Northam didn’t think it was him “then or now” we would have to believe that he thought THE MOST OBVIOUSLY RELEVANT DETAIL was a secondary point to be brought up later?

— Ben (@BenHowe) February 2, 2019

Who had “I didn’t do this racist thing but I did another you might find out about” in the pool?

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) February 2, 2019

If you had “darkened my face to participate in a Michael Jackson dance competition” on your Northam speech bingo card, congratulations.

— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) February 2, 2019

Well, it’s an argument. He doesn’t think that picture was of him in blackface because he vividly remembers the other time he allegedly wore blackface. pic.twitter.com/qpBwfj1dFf

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) February 2, 2019

He’s either telling the truth or it’s the most cockamamie attempted dodge ever

— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) February 2, 2019

This is one of the stranger press conferences I’ve ever seen.

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) February 2, 2019

Oh my god https://t.co/kpzqEZKzaZ

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) February 2, 2019

Northam’s statement is like watching a man drown

— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) February 2, 2019

If Northam’s relationship with LG Justin Fairfax were as strong as he makes it out to be, Fairfax would be standing with him at this press conference

— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) February 2, 2019

Ralph Northam talks about his youthful adventures in blackface the way Grandpa Simpson reminisces about wearing an onion on his belt.

— Esoteric Jeff (@EsotericCD) February 2, 2019

Northam’s defense is that he wore blackface but not in that yearbook picture

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) February 2, 2019

Northam says he won the contest in which he dressed up like Michael Jackson for a skit.

And he jokes about how it’s hard to get shoe polish of your face.

— Annie Linskey (@AnnieLinskey) February 2, 2019

What https://t.co/USpkBlJPdn

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 2, 2019

Not in an ideal position if you’re describing the amount of shoe polish you put on your face to pretend to be Michael Jackson

— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) February 2, 2019

Northam does a riff on how he put blackface on in San Antonio and that he won the dance competition because he could do the moonwalk. My goodness this is bad.

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 2, 2019

haha so funny lol get it it’s a blackface joke https://t.co/akz2fboiop

— Steadman (@AsteadWesley) February 2, 2019

holy shit this is better than the super bowl

— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) February 2, 2019

Daily Show writers rn pic.twitter.com/QXzeSgtLAy

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) February 2, 2019

“I dressed up as — what’s his name, the singer?” Northam asks his wife. “Michael Jackson.” He continues to explain how he put shoe polish on his face.

— Matt Viser (@mviser) February 2, 2019

How deep is Northam trying to dig this hole?

— Adam Serwer (@AdamSerwer) February 2, 2019

I’ll still take this over Maroon 5

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) February 2, 2019

from Mediaite http://bit.ly/2G7SsJg