Janet Jackson is being called “irrelevant” and a “leech” after she questioned Kamala Harris’ race in an interview with the Guardian published on Saturday. “She’s not black. That’s what I heard.
That she’s Indian,” the US singer, 58, said during a chat about “the State of the Union” with the outlet . “Her father’s white. That’s what I was told,” she went on.
“I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white.” Vice President Harris, 59, is the daughter of two immigrants.
Her father is Jamaican while her mother is Indian. Fans were appalled by Jackson’s false statements and slammed her on X, with one writing, “This is why she’s irrelevant and leeching off of her brothers’ success.” Of course, the singer’s older brother is the late Michael Jackson, who was frequently questioned after his skin turned black to white in the 1990s.
It was known at the time that he had vitiligo, a disorder that causes patches of skin to lose colour, per Mayo Clinic. Bringing up the debate that the Beat It singer’s changing skin tone caused, another X user penned, “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 shocked user added, “I have always been a fan of Janet Jackson but this just no.
Stop.” Several others compared Janet’s comments to the statement Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made about Harris changing her race while speaking at a conference of black journalists in July. “I’ve known her a long time, indirectly, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” the former president, 78, said.
“I did not 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.” He added, “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 became black.” Page Six contacted Janet’s rep for comment but did not immediately hear back.
This story originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission.
