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President Biden on Friday held a public event with disgraced Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and praised him as “one of the best” governors in handling COVID-19 — despite previously demanding Northam resign for blackface “racism.”

Northam has been a political pariah since 2019, when it was revealed his 1984 medical school yearbook page contained a photo of one person dressed as a member of the KKK and another in blackface impersonating an African-American.

Northam admitted it was “a photograph of me” without clarifying if he dressed up as a KKK member or in blackface. But he resisted calls for his resignation — including from Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Caif.) and the NAACP.

Biden said at the time that Northam must resign for “racism.”

“There is no place for racism in America. Governor Northam has lost all moral authority and should resign immediately, [Lt. Gov.] Justin Fairfax is the leader Virginia needs now,” Biden tweeted.

But standing in front of an indoor rock-climbing wall in northern Virginia, Biden on Friday made no reference to Northam’s racial controversy.

“My wife works for the governor. No wonder she doesn’t pay attention to me when I’m hanging around the governor!” Biden said, referring to first lady Jill Biden’s teaching job at Northern Virginia Community College.

“Governor Northam, I want to thank you for your welcome to the Commonwealth,” Biden gushed after taking a motorcade across the Potomac River to Alexandria, Va.

“And I want to thank you for all you’re doing to help win the fight against COVID. You’re one of the best governors in the country at taking this on. And you did it from the beginning.”

Although he at first confessed to being in the bizarre yearbook photo on a page honoring himself, Northam later retracted his confession, claiming, “I reflected with my family and classmates from that time and affirmed my conclusion that I am not the person in that photo.”

It subsequently emerged that Northam’s 1981 undergrad yearbook from Virginia Military Institute listed as one of his nicknames “Coonman”, an anti-black slur.

Northam is limited to one term as Virginia governor and leaves office in January.

He survived the scandal in part thanks to controversies that in quick succession enveloped the state officials who would have been second or third in line to replace him.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who is black, was accused of sexual misconduct and Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring, who is white, admitted he too wore blackface.

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