Janet Jackson Promotes Right-Wing Kamala Harris Conspiracy Theory, Falsely Claims Harris Is 'Not Black'

Mar. 15, 2025

Janet Jackson (left) and Kamala Harris.Photo:Getty(2)

Getty(2)

Janet Jacksonis speaking about the upcoming U.S. presidential election — and repeating a false claim about Vice PresidentKamala Harris.

When asked about her thoughts on Harris, 59, possibly becoming the first Black woman to be elected president, the Grammy winner, 58, toldThe Guardianthat she “heard” the vice president is “not Black.”

“Well, you know what they supposedly said? She’s not Black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian,” Jackson told the U.K. outlet.

“That’s what I was told. I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days,” Jackson continued. “I was told that they discovered her father was White.”

Janet Jackson.Dave Benett/Getty

Dave Benett/Getty

Jackson also said she isn’t sure if “America is ready” for a woman of color as a president, asTheGuardianput it.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t want to answer that because I really, truthfully, don’t know. I think either way it goes is going to be mayhem.”

“I think there might be mayhem,” Jackson added. “Either way it goes, but we’ll have to see.”

Reports from outlets includingCNN, theAssociated PressandReutershave proven false these claims about Harris' race and ethnicity.

Harris’ father,Donald J. Harris, is an immigrant from Jamaica who moved to the U.S. to study economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, came to the U.S. from India and also studied at Berkeley, where the couple met.

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In July, Trump, 78, made false claims about Harris' race at theNational Association of Black Journalists(NABJ) convention in Chicago.

“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting the Indian heritage,” Trump claimed at the time. “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?”

“But you know what, I respect either one, 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,” Trump continued.

Kamala Harris in July 2024.Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty

Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty

After Trump repeated the claims against Harris at the presidential debate on Sept. 10, the vice president said: “Honestly, I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president, who has consistently, over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people.”

Harris attended Howard University, an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and in its story about Jackson,TheGuardianquoted a line from Harris'2019 memoirThe Truths We Hold, in which she wrote: “My mother understood very well that she was raising two Black daughters.”

Harris’White House biographyalso states that she is “the first woman, the first Black American and the first South Asian American” to be elected vice president.

source: people.com