Janet Jackson’s most recent interview with The Guardian suggests that she believes certain conspiracy theories about VP Kamala Harris’ racial identity.
In the interview, Jackson, 58, tells journalist Nosheen Iqbal, that she “heard” the vice president is “not Black.”
“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.”
Harris has always identified as Black. Her father is Black Jamaican economist and professor Donald J. Harris, who is retired, and her mom was Indian biomedical scientist Shyamala Gopalan, who died at 70 in 2009.
Jackson also said she isn’t sure if “America is ready” for a woman of color as a president, as The Guardian put it.
Iqbal pushed back and said, “Harris has dual heritage, I say, and, given this moment, does Jackson think America is ready for her?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t want to answer that because I really, truthfully, don’t know. I think either way it goes is going to be mayhem.”
Harris’ racial identity has become a consistent talking point as she, if elected, would be the first Black American woman and the first South Asian American to be president of the United States.
Presidential nominee Donald Trump told journalists in August that his Democratic opponent Harris “turned Black” for political gain.
“’She was only promoting Indian heritage,’” Trump said in an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. “’I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black…Is she Indian or is she Black?’
He continued, “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went — she became a Black person. I think somebody should look into that too.”
Social Media Reactions
Long time Janet fans were disappointed in her remarks about Vice President Harris.
Journalist Yashar Ali wrote on X, “It’s clear that Janet Jackson has been reading things in the dark corners of the internet and that makes me very sad.”
Another user wrote, “As a true 90’s girl I’m deeply saddened to discover Janet Jackson is stupid. A tiny part of me just died.”
X user Leah wrote, “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!”