Justin Trudeau has been accused of using 'people of colour as political props' (Picture: AP/@JustinTrudeau/Twitter)
Justin Trudeau has been accused of using ‘people of colour as political props’ (Picture: AP/@JustinTrudeau/Twitter)

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has been slammed for changing his profile picture on Twitter to show him talking to a black person, days after being accused of racism for wearing blackface.

Mr Trudeau appears to have changed his profile picture within the last few days, meaning the change was made after pictures of him emerged wearing blackface.

Old photographs of the Candian prime minister emerged, showing him with a darkened face at an Arabian nights costume party in 2001.

Subsequent pictures showed him wearing blackface while performing a version of Harry Belafonte’s ‘Banana Boat Song (Day-O)’ during a talent show at Jean Brebeuf High School in Quebec, which he graduated from in the early 1990s.

Global News also broadcast a brief video of Trudeau in ‘brownface’ while raising his hands in the air and sticking out his tongue.

In the latest incident, he has been accused of insensitivity after changing his picture.

Justin Trudeau slammed for changing profile picture days after accusations of racism (Picture: @JustinTrudeau/Twitter)
Mr Trudeau appears to have changed his Twitter profile picture after the ‘brownface controversy’ (Picture: @JustinTrudeau/Twitter)

One user wrote: “Some of my best friends are black”, Trudeau now has an avatar of him talking to a black person.

‘I kind of feel sorry for him. He is just absurd.’

Another added: ‘Was it a mistake by @JustinTrudeau to change his profile picture to a shot of him smiling at a black man?

This April 2001 photo, which appeared in a newsletter from the West Point Grey Academy, shows a costumed Justin Trudeau, his face and hands darkened by makeup, attending an "Arabian Nights" gala. The academy is a private school in Vancouver, B.C., where Trudeau worked as a teacher before entering politics. (West Point Grey Academy/The Canadian Press via AP)
This April 2001 photo, which appeared in a newsletter from the West Point Grey Academy, shows a costumed Justin Trudeau, his face and hands darkened by makeup, attending an ‘Arabian Nights’ gala (Picture: AP)
7481711 PICTURED: Justin Trudeau wearing blackface and an AFRO wig while performing Jamaican song Day-O at high school as he apologizes over a different racist photo where he'd dressed up for an Arabian Nights party
Justin Trudeau wearing blackface and an Afro wig while performing Jamaican song Day-O at high school (Picture: Global News)
Justin Trudeau yearbook photo from 2001 'Arabian Nights' themed party at West Point Grey Academy where he taught
Trudeau says he is deeply sorry after the pictures emerged (Picture: Time/ West Point Grey Academy)

‘Is it a demonstration that he’s left his racist past behind, or is his use of people of colour as political props evidence that he hasn’t changed very much?’

Mr Trudeau has said that he is truly sorry for what he did.

He said: ‘I’m going to ask Canadians to forgive me for what I did.

‘I shouldn’t have done that. I take responsibility for it. It was a dumb thing to do.’

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