Janet Jackson Says Kamala Harris "Isn't Black," Faces Backlash From Fans
"Her father's white. That's what I was told."
Published Sept. 22 2024, 11:18 a.m. ET
Vice President Kamala Harris's ethnicity is being questioned once again.
In July 2024, Donald Trump said that he didn't Kamala was "Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black," sparking backlash.
Kamala has always identified as both Black and South Asian American, but now Janet Jackson is also questioning her Blackness in a rare interview with The Guardian.
What did Janet Jackson say about Kamala Harris?
When asked about her thoughts on the election and the potential for America's first Black female president, Janet took the opportunity to comment about Kamala's race.
"Well, you know what they supposedly said? She's not Black. That's what I heard. That's she's Indian," Janet tells the interviewer, who tells the pop star she's "both."
However, Janet continues, adding, "Her father's white. That's what I was told. I mean I haven't watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white."
Kamala's father is in fact Jamaican, and a Stanford economics professor. As expected, fans called out Janet for her incorrect statements.
"All Janet Jackson needs to know is Kamala Harris is blacker than Michael’s children," one person tweeted before another added, "The Janet Jackson thing really illustrates how damaging disinformation is. If you can look at Kamala Harris and with a straight face think she has a white parent… I don’t know what to say."
A third chimed in, "Janet Jackson is one of the most influential people in music history. It was simply irresponsible of her to repeat something she 'heard' regarding the very thing that they use against Kamala! Her own race. We are less than 50 days away from the election. We gotta talk smarter!"
Is Janet Jackson a Trump supporter?
Despite her comments on Kamala, Janet did not endorse Donald Trump. She did, however, make a prediction about the upcoming election.
"I think there might be mayhem," she said when asked if she thinks there will be a peaceful transition of power. "Either way it goes, but we'll have to see."
Previously, Janet defended President Obama when he was in office. "Everyone wants everything to turn around immediately. It took us how many years to get to this point? People say, ‘His first 100 days in office, what has he done?’ You can’t do that to the man. It’s not going to happen tomorrow," she said in 2017.