No, ma’am. The stars of The View shared their thoughts about Janet Jackson‘s recent comments about Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris being “not Black” on the the Monday (Sept. 23) episode of the talk show, and they didn’t hold back.
“I think Janet Jackson, like every other American — whether you’re a celebrity or not — has a right to endorse, support or not support whomever they want. She’s got every right to not like Kamala Harris if she doesn’t want to,” Ana Navarro began. “What she did was spread misinformation, and I think it’s very irresponsible when you have a platform the way Janet Jackson does to use that platform carelessly to spread misinformation based on a racist allegation by Donald Trump. It was Donald Trump who tried to say, ‘Kamala Harris just turned Black.’”
The political strategist and commentator then explained to viewers that the vice president’s parents are immigrants — Harris’ mom is South Asian from India, while her dad is a Black man from Jamaica. “Here’s a picture for all of you who need … for Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty,” Navarro said, holding up a photo of the VP as a toddler in her dad’s arms. “Here’s the damn picture!”
Alyssa Farah Griffin — who was the press secretory for former VP Mike Pence and served as White House communications director under Trump — then noted that nowadays, people tend to live in “information silos,” with social media algorithms often feeding users what they want to see rather than facts from a range of sources. “My guess is she’s not looking at great sources of media,” she said of the pop icon.
Journalist Sara Haines chimed in with a big concern as well in regards to sourcing facts. “This is the No. 1 most severe warning in the short term we have globally — misinformation and disinformation — the World Economic Forum said this is our greatest risk in the next few years, and it’s not just this country, it’s everywhere. You never single source a story,” she noted. “The other part of the story that bothers me is the whole identity issue. The fastest growing group in this country is multiracial individuals, not bi, multiracial individuals! So asking people ‘What are you?” — we need to be more open about people’s identity and what they identify as and have some grace.”
That was the perfect transition for Sunny Hostin, who identifies as biracial, pointing out that the best way to handle this is the way the VP has, which is to ignore it. Instead, Hostin said, it’s better to focus on what Harris has accomplished. “I think Kamala is breaking barriers just by being in the room regardless of whether Janet Jackson thinks she’s black or white or Indian,” said the lawyer and journalist, who also said she didn’t know whether the star got got what she said from misinformation or lack of information. “The very fact that [Harris] is in the room, deconstructs in my view, the societal norms that we’ve seen in the nearly 250 years of this country of what a presidential candidate looks like.”
While some of the stars of The View had some tough words for Jackson, moderator Whoopi Goldberg offered the superstar some grace. “Janet Jackson is not a political animal. She’s a musician … and she’s mourning her brother,” the actress said, noting that the singer’s brother Tito died recently. “I sometimes have said stuff and I was wrong! … So sometimes, people get it wrong, and they’re WRONG. They made a mistake. It happens. … We all do it, so a little grace for the girl, all right?”
Jackson made her repeated the right-wing conspiracy theory about Harris being “not Black” during an interview with The Guardian published Sept. 21. “Her father’s white, that’s what I was told,” she said to the publication. “I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white.”
Watch The View panel discusses Janet Jackson’s comments about Kamala Harris’ racial identity below.
