Janet Jackson is being slammed and called "irrelevant" and a "leech" after she raised questions about Kamala Harris' race during an interview with The Guardian published on Saturday. The 58-year-old singer made this shocking claim when asked about her feelings on the US having its first Black female vice president.
"She's not black. That's what I heard. That she's Indian," the "That's The Way Love Goes" hitmaker, 58, said during a chat about "the State of the Union." "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," she went on.
Jackson Doubts Harris' Race
Kamala Harris, 59, was born in 1964 to Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian-born cancer researcher, and Donald J. Harris, a Black Jamaican professor of economics. The couple married in 1963 but separated in 1971 after having Kamala and her younger sister, Maya, now 57.
Dr. Gopalan died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 70, while Donald Harris, 86, is now a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University, having retired in 1998.
Fans were outraged by Jackson's inaccurate remarks and slammed her on X, with one user saying, "This is why she's irrelevant and leeching off of her brothers' success."
Referencing the discussions surrounding the changing skin tone of the "Beat It" singer, another user wrote, " Janet, you know better than to believe that nonsense... especially after all the race controversies Michael went through..."
"'That's what I heard' is the new way of saying 'i believe the stupid, unsubstantiated s–t people tell me,'" a third dismayed person tweeted.
Another user wrote, "I have always been a fan of Janet Jackson but this just no. Stop."
Jackson's late brother, Michael, also faced controversy over his skin changing from black to white throughout his career. He attributed the change to a medical condition called vitiligo and denied using skin-bleaching products.
Much Like Trump
The Nasty singer's incorrect statement about Kamala Harris being half-white has drawn comparisons to one of Donald Trump's infamous remarks during his presidential campaign.
Trump claimed that Harris "just happened to turn black" while speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago in July.
He said: "She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage.
"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.
"So I don't know, is she Indian or is she black?
"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."
