Canada's Trudeau makes waves online with new beard

TORONTO - For the second time in five months, Canadian social media users are obsessing over Justin Trudeau's face.

In September, it was old pictures of the Canadian prime minister in blackface that got him in trouble during the election campaign.

In January, it's Trudeau's facial hair that is trending online after a picture posted to Instagram by his personal photographer showed a pensive-looking Trudeau sporting a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard.

The Instagram post, which offered few details, got dozens of comments along the lines of "We need answers about the beard," and the hashtag #trudeaubeard trended on Twitter in Canada with thousands of posts.

Want to thank my American friends for showing us how fortunate we Canadians are when our leader trends on Twitter for something so insignificant as growing a beard.

Hey, Trudeau could pass as Hans Gruber! ? #CDNpoli #TrudeauBeard pic.twitter.com/47YJFxxPz6

— Hafiz Shariff (@HafizDoc) January 7, 2020

Trudeau has sported facial hair in the past, including a mustache and goatee while in opposition. But as prime minister, he has thus far been clean-shaven.

His office did not immediately respond to queries on Tuesday about the beard's provenance or whether Trudeau, 48, plans to keep it.

Canadian pop culture commentator Shinan Govani said the beard was reminiscent of Trudeau's father, Pierre, who sported a similar, somewhat scruffier look while briefly in opposition in 1979.

"If any world leader can get away with that Brooklyn creative look, it is Justin, though," he wrote in an email.

Political style consultant and former New Democratic Party adviser Ian Capstick said he expects the post-vacation beard to be short-lived: "It's a risky play at this stage for him to be sort of seen taking up too much space on a beard when the world is burning down."