Janet Jackson is apologizing after saying that Vice President Kamala Harris is "not Black" in an interview with The Guardian.
In an interview published by the outlet on Saturday, Jackson balked at a question about the possibility of a Black woman being president.
"[Harris is] not Black," Jackson said. “That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian. Her father’s white. That’s what I was told. I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white.”
Harris is the daughter of Jamaican-American professor Donald Harris, who is Black, and Indian-American scientist Shyamala Gopalan Harris. Jackson apologized for the comment in a statement to Buzzfeed through her manager, Mo Elmasri.
Elmsari said Jackson's response was "based on misinformation."
"She deeply respects Vice President Kamala Harris and her accomplishments as a Black and Indian woman," she added. "Janet apologizes for any confusion caused and acknowledges the importance of accurate representation in public discourse."
It's not the first time that Harris' ethnicity has been questioned this election season. Donald Trump falsely accused the vice president of "turn[ing] Black" at some point in the last few years.
“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," he said at a Black journalists conference in July. "So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
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