Canadian PM Justin Trudeau says he does not remember how often he wore blackface as a younger man, as the scandal deepened ahead of the elections.
He was speaking after more pictures of him wearing black make-up when she was young appeared.
“I was wary of becoming definitive about this because the latest pictures that come out, I do not remember,” he told reporters in Winnipeg.
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Revelation has rocked the election campaign in a tight race.
Canada will go to the polls on October 21.
How damaging is the blackface scandal to Trudeau?
Image is so embarrassing for the prime minister because he has positioned himself as a champion of social justice, inclusiveness, and diversity.
When the cabinet was inaugurated in 2015, half the appointments were female; three are Sikh and two members come from indigenous communities.
What is the latest image?
A video was revealed on Thursday in which he is seen in a white T-shirt and torn jeans, his face, and limbs covered in black make-up.
In the footage, shot in the 1990s, he was seen laughing, throwing his hands in the air, sticking his tongue out and pulled a face.
Mr. Trudeau will be in their late teens or early 20s at the time.
Blackface, which is more prevalent in the past, particularly in the entertainment industry, involving whites darker paint their faces – and were widely condemned as a racist caricature.
How about another episode?
On Wednesday, the embattled prime minister apologized for wearing brownface makeup at a gala at a Vancouver private school where he taught nearly two decades ago.
A 2001 yearbook picture obtained by Time magazine showed Mr. Trudeau, then aged 29, with skin-darkening makeup on his face and hands, in West Point Gray Academy.
Mr. Trudeau, dressed in the photograph in costume Aladdin.
Another photo has emerged which showed Mr. Trudeau, then a high school student, performing in a talent show, again wearing blackface. He sang Day-O, a Jamaican folk song popularized by civil rights activist Harry Belafonte America.
How Trudeau respond?
In Winnipeg on Thursday, the prime minister made a second appearance before reporters since the scandal broke.
He said: “Dark face, regardless of the context or circumstance, is always unacceptable as the racist history of blackface.
“I should have understood that the time and I never had to do it.”
Mr. Trudeau says she has let people down. “I came to ponder it and ask for forgiveness.”
He said that failing to realize how hurtful their actions can result from “large blind spot” because of his privileged background.
Mr. Trudeau Liberal candidate had also phoned to apologize for his behavior.
What reaction has there been?
Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan, was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), said what Mr. Trudeau did was wrong, but pointed to policies to promote diversity.
Liberal MP Omar Alghabra told CBC his “heart sank” in the image.
“He became a champion to fight against this type of pain these images cause,” he said.
Conservative opposition leader, Andrew Scheer, speaking on Thursday, dismissed the apology of Mr. Trudeau as “unreal”.
“He especially if there are other cases in which he is involved in this kind of racist behavior and he indicated that there was only one other incident, and now we know there are at least three.”
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, a Sikh, said on Wednesday that the images were “disturbing” and “insulting”.
Toronto resident was approached by the BBC seems quite unaffected by the controversy.
“I really do not think it is a big problem,” said one woman.
But another woman disappointed: “At the same time I realize that many of us, especially us white people, should take a hard look at the things we have done in the past we are racist.”
One person said: “It’s an awful long time ago Maybe just see what he is doing now is not what he did when he was in his 20s ..”
But the citizens of Ottawa, when asked whether he found the images offensive, saying: “I do.”
Mustafa Farooq, executive director of the Muslim Canadian National Council, said: “Looking at the prime minister in brownface/blackface is very depressing consumption blackface/brownface is reprehensible, and listen to the history of racism and mythology Orientalis unacceptable.”
The image has brought a strong response in the Canadian media.
Photographs weaken the perception of Mr. Trudeau “absolutely”, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation commentator said.
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