Actress Whoopi Goldberg has defended Janet Jackson, urging fans to show her some grace following her recent gaffe about Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial identity.
Janet Jackson questioned Kamala Harris’ race in an interview with The Guardian on Saturday, September 21. During the interview, the music icon seemed to question Harris’s blackness.
“Well, you know what they supposedly said?” Janet Jackson asked, referring to the Vice President’s mixed heritage. “She’s not Black — that’s what I heard, that she’s Indian.”
“Her father’s white,” the singer continued. 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.”
Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts on the view weighed in on Janet Jackson’s recent controversial remarks regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s race, addressing the backlash that Jackson has faced for her perceived political silence.
Whoopi made it clear that she believes it’s important for the public to extend grace to artists like Janet, who may not feel inclined to engage in political discourse.
“Yes, she does have a phone,” Whoopi stated during a recent talk show appearance. “But Janet Jackson is not a political animal. She’s a musician, and she’s mourning a brother.”
Whoopi continued, reflecting on her own experiences with public scrutiny, highlighting the inevitability of making mistakes.
“Sometimes I’ve said stuff, and I was wrong,” she continued. “But people want you to say something right away. You know, when people are coming in at you saying, ‘you’re dumb. You’re not paying attention,’ you don’t want to answer people.”
“Everyone who says it doesn’t happen to any of us, multiracial or not, we all do it,” Whoopi Goldberg asserted.
Whoopi continued, “Sometimes people get it wrong, and they’re wrong. They made a mistake, they were wrong, it happens [and] anybody who says it doesn’t happen to every one of us, multiracial or not, we all do it. So, a little grace for the girl, a little grace for the girl, alright?”
Several media outlets reported that Janet Jackson apologized through a man named Mo Elmasari, who claimed to be her manager. However, it has since been clarified that Jackson is managed by her brother, Randy, and that the unusually worded “apology” did not come from her.
