Janet Jackson has sparked outrage after repeating false claims about Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial identity during an interview with The Guardian. Promoting her latest tour and upcoming Las Vegas residency, Jackson echoed widely debunked misinformation, stating she had “heard” Harris wasn’t Black.
“Well, you know what they supposedly said? She’s not Black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian,” Jackson said during the interview in London. When the interviewer corrected her, explaining that Harris is of both Indian and Black descent, Jackson replied, “I was told that they discovered her father was white. I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days.”
Jackson’s remarks quickly went viral, with social media users and public figures calling her out for spreading disinformation. Comedian D.L. Hughley, a vocal supporter of Harris, slammed Jackson on Twitter, comparing her comments to a “Trump rally” and mocking her for questioning Harris’ race, while having undergone plastic surgery.
“#KamalaHarris looks the way she does cuz she has a mom from India and a dad from Jamaica! #JanetJackson looks the way she does cuz she has a plastic surgeon! #TeamDl,” Hughley tweeted.
Jackson’s team has remained quiet amid the backlash. A man claiming to be her manager, Mo Elmasri, initially issued an apology on her behalf, attributing her remarks to “misinformation.” However, TMZ reported that Jackson’s actual manager, her brother Randy Jackson, stated that Elmasri has no current affiliation with the singer and was not authorized to speak for her.
The controversy around Jackson’s comments echoes similar attacks made by former President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed that Harris “turned Black” for political convenience. In July, Trump told a crowd at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black.”
Harris responded by calling Trump’s remarks part of a divisive strategy designed to pit Americans against one another.
Commentators like “The View” co-host Ana Navarro have condemned Jackson’s remarks.
“What she did was spread misinformation based on a racist allegation by Donald Trump. It was Donald Trump who tried to say Kamala Harris just turned Black,” Navarro said, pointing to the former president’s long-standing efforts to undermine Harris’s identity.
Despite the furor, Jackson has yet to issue a public statement addressing her remarks. As Vice President Harris continues to face attacks on her identity, her supporters are pushing back against the spread of false narratives meant to divide.
As Harris herself stated at an event in Houston following Trump’s inflammatory remarks, “It was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say, the American people deserve better.”