Janet Jackson entertained a false claim about Kamala Harris’ racial identity in an interview published by The Guardian on Saturday.
“Well, you know what they supposedly said? She’s not Black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian,” the music icon told The Guardian’s Nosheen Iqbal.
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Iqbal, in her piece on the singer, referred to Jackson’s 1989 hit “Rhythm Nation” where she sings of joining voices “in protest to social injustice” and pushing toward “a world rid of color lines” before bringing up the election and the vice president.
Jackson, after Iqbal accurately noted that Harris is both Black and Indian, continued to call Harris’ identity into question and said she “was told” the vice president’s father, Donald J. Harris, is white. (He isn’t.)
“I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white,” said Jackson, whose remarks left the reporter floored.
Jackson’s comments arrive after former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that Kamala Harris “happened to turn Black” as he questioned the vice president’s identity at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in July.
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The former president notably attacked then-President Barack Obama by pushing the “birther” conspiracy theory over a decade ago.
Harris, when asked about the “turn Black” remarks, told CNN’s Dana Bash that it’s the “same old, tired playbook” from the GOP nominee.
Iqbal, later in her interview with Jackson, informed...
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