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Janet Jackson has issued an apology after claiming Kamala Harris is not black, echoing a false and controversial claim made by Harris’ White House rival, Donald Trump.
The 58-year-old singer, whose brother Tito died at the age of 70 last week, made surprising comments about the vice president when asked how she felt about the United States having its first black female president.
In a new statement by Buzzfeed“She has great respect for Vice President Kamala Harris and her accomplishments as a black and Indian woman,” said Jackson’s manager, Moe Masri.
“Janet apologizes for any confusion that may have occurred and recognizes the importance of accurate representation in public discourse. We appreciate the opportunity to address this issue and remain committed to promoting unity.”
The All for You singer had previously said: “She’s not black. That’s what I heard. She’s Indian. Her father is white. That’s what I’ve been told.”
Jackson later admitted that she had “not watched the news in a few days” but was told that someone had “found out” that Harris’ father was “white.”
Harris was born in 1964 to Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian cancer researcher, and Donald Harris, a black Jamaican economics professor.
Gopalan died of cancer at the age of 70 in 2009. Donald Harris, 86, is a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University.
Jackson’s comments are consistent with those Trump made during a speech at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago last July.
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The former president claimed:[Harris] “She was always of Indian descent, and she was just promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago, when she came out as black, and now she wants to be known as black.”
“So I don’t know, is she Indian or black?” he asked.
“I respect either of them, but she obviously doesn’t respect him, because she was Indian the whole time, and then all of a sudden she took a turn and became a black person. I think somebody should look into that, too,” Trump added.
Harris has spoken openly about her upbringing and appreciation for both backgrounds. She attended Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C., and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, one of the first black sororities in the country.
In 2021, she recalled her father taking her and her sister to see Bob Marley and the Wailers in 1978 — her first ever concert. “We sat at the top of the back of the theater, and as I watched the show, I was in complete awe,” Harris said. Washington Post at that time. “To this day, I know the lyrics to almost every Bob Marley song.
“My father, like many Jamaicans, has great pride in our Jamaican heritage and instilled that same pride in my sister and I,” Harris told the newspaper. “We love Jamaica. He taught us the history of where we came from, the struggles and beauty of the Jamaican people, and the richness of the culture.”
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