After making comments about Vice President Kamala Harris that caused a stir, Janet Jackson is taking back an apology she made for her.
Jackson talked about the fact that the Democratic presidential nominee is of mixed race in an interview with The Guardian that came out on Saturday.
When asked if the United States would have its “first Black female president,” Jackson said she didn’t think Harris was Black.
“Well, you know what they supposedly said?” Jackson told him. “She’s not Black.” I heard that. that she’s Native American.”
She said: “I was told that they discovered her father was white.”
The child of Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris was named Harris. There was an Indian researcher named Gopalan who died in 2009 at the age of 70. Donald Harris is an economic expert from Jamaica who moved to the U.S. to get his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, where he met Gopalan.
Donald Trump asks Kamala Harris about her race at NABJ and says she “happened to turn black.”
Jackson’s words about Harris’s race are similar to what former President Trump said about it. The GOP presidential candidate said at a convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in July that he “didn’t know (Harris) was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black.”
“Is she Black or Indian?” “Because she used to be Indian and then all of a sudden changed her mind and became black,” Trump said at the time.
Janet Jackson’s apology for Kamala Harris comments was not authorized, reps say
Soon after Jackson’s words were made public, an Egyptian filmmaker named Mo Elmasri, who is said to have worked as a creative consultant for Jackson, apologized on Jackson’s behalf to Buzzfeed.
Elmasri, who said he was Jackson’s manager, allegedly told the news source that Jackson’s comments about Harris’ race were “based on misinformation.”
Agents for Jackson told USA TODAY on Sunday that her brother Randy Jackson is currently managing her. Reps for the singer also said that Elmasri wasn’t allowed to say that to Buzzfeed and that he has never worked for Jackson.
USA TODAY has asked Randy Jackson to say something.
His IMDb page says that Elmasri is an executive director on the upcoming TV documentary series “Janet Jackson: Family First,” which is currently in production.
Janet Jackson sparks online backlash with Kamala Harris comments
Jackson’s words about Harris’s race were quickly criticized on social media.
@sjs856 wrote on X, “The Janet Jackson thing really shows how harmful false information is.” “If you can look at Kamala Harris and not think she has white parents… 😢 “I’m not sure what to say.”
“Apparently Janet Jackson lives under a rock,” @Forever_Dusk wrote next to a video clip of Harris saying, “OK, so these people need to be educated.” That makes sense to me.”
“This whole Janet Jackson thing just goes to show you how out of touch some celebrities are,” @AJLaJoya said. “I love her, but why do you keep telling lies? Sorry. When you have a stage, don’t talk about things you don’t know much about. Learn something, please!”