Janet Jackson has retracted the apology she made on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris after making controversial comments about the former vice president.
Jackson commented on Democratic presidential candidate Harris’ mixed race identity in an interview with The Guardian published on Saturday. When asked about the possibility of the United States having its “first black woman president,” Jackson questioned Harris’ blackness.
“Well, you know what they said,” Jackson said, “she’s not black. What I heard is she’s Indian.”
She added: “I heard she found out her father was white.”
Harris was born to Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris, an Indian-born breast cancer researcher who died in 2009 at the age of 70. Donald Harris was an economic adviser from Jamaica who moved to the US to get his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, where he met Gopalan.
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Jackson’s comments about Harris’ race echo those of former President Donald Trump, when the Republican presidential candidate said at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in July that he “didn’t know she was black until a few years ago, by coincidence.”
“Is she Indian or is she black? Because she’s been Indian all her life and then all of a sudden she turns around and becomes black,” Trump said at the time.
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Shortly after Jackson’s comments were made public, Egyptian film director Mo El Masri, who reportedly worked as Jackson’s creative consultant, apologized to BuzzFeed on the singer’s behalf.
El Masri, who described himself as Jackson’s manager, reportedly told the outlet that Jackson’s comments about Harris’ racial identity were “based on misinformation.”
Jackson’s current manager is his brother, Randy Jackson, a representative for Jackson confirmed to USA Today on Sunday, adding that El-Masri was not authorized to make a statement to BuzzFeed and has never worked with Jackson’s team.
USA TODAY has reached out to Randy Jackson for comment.
According to El-Masri’s IMDb page, he is listed as an executive producer on the television documentary series “Janet Jackson: Family First,” which is currently in production.
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Janet Jackson sparks online backlash over Kamala Harris comments
Jackson’s comments about Harris’ race drew immediate backlash on social media.
“The Janet Jackson thing really shows how harmful misinformation can be,” @sjs856 wrote to X. “If you look at Kamala Harris and think with a straight face that her parents are white… ๐ I don’t know what to say.”
“Apparently Janet Jackson is naive,” @Forever_Dusk wrote, alongside an unrelated video clip of Harris saying, “I see, education is needed. I get it.”
“The Janet Jackson thing just shows how out of touch with reality some celebs are,” @AJLaJoya wrote. “I’ve always liked her but to repeat the lie?! Too bad. If you don’t know anything about a subject don’t talk about it…especially on your platform. Educate yourself!”
Contributors: Margie Cullen, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Rebecca Morin, Deborah Barfield Berry and Terry Collins, USA TODAY