Vice President Kamala Harris denied a rumor Tuesday surrounding singer Janet Jackson, after the famous artist claimed she was not black.
The vice president reacted to Jackson’s statement and the subsequent controversy during a town hall conversation with Charlamagne Tha God in Detroit, Michigan.
Charlamagne asked Harris to address the rumor on social media that Janet Jackson was mad at her, because she prosecuted her brother superstar singer Michael Jackson.
”That’s just not true on either count,’ Harris said, laughing.
When asked if Jackson was mad at her, Harris admitted that she had not talked to Janet Jackson since the controversy.
‘I don’t know, I haven’t talked to her, but it certainly isn’t true about her brother,’ Harris said.
Janet Jackson, 58, questioned Harris’ race during an interview with The Guardian in September.
‘She’s not black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian,’ Jackson said when asked for her reaction to the idea of Harris getting elected as the first black female president of the United States.
‘Her father’s white. That’s what I was told,’ Jackson continued. ‘I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white.’
Janet Jackson, pictured during a British TV interview earlier this month, has claimed Kamala Harris is not black and that the Vice President’s father is white
Harris was born to Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian cancer researcher and Donald Harris, a black economics professor from Jamaica (pictured together in the 1960s)
Harris identifies as black, as her father is from Jamaica and her mother is from India.
The issue grew even more controversial after Jackson distanced herself from a statement issued on her behalf apologizing to Harris and fired the person who tried to quell the controversy.
Harris has frequently dealt with questions about her race throughout her career, as she frequently dismisses critics who challenge her blackness.
The vice president spoke at length with Charlemagne about campaign issues, as the sometimes-critical host asked her to clear up a number of online issues surrounding her campaign.
When asked about prosecuting over a thousand people for marijuana when she was District Attorney of California, Harris denied it.
Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris (L) prepares to speak with Charlamagne Tha God
Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris (R) and Charlamagne Tha God hug prior to their town hall interview in Detroit, Michigan.
‘It’s just simply not true. And what public defenders who around those days will tell you. I was the most Progressive prosecutor in California on marijuana cases,’ Harris said.
As district attorney, Harris oversaw 1,900 convictions for pot offenses according to the Mercury News, a higher rate than her predecessor and also opposed legislation that would legalize marijuana until she became a United States senator.
She lamented the ‘purposeful’ talking points about her record as a prosecutor in California.
‘One of the biggest challenges that I face is mis and disinformation. And it’s purposeful because it is meant to convince people that they somehow should not believe that the work that I have done has occurred and has meaning,’ she said.
Harris also bristled at the notion that she and Biden mishandled the border and deserved ‘a lot of the blame.’
‘First thing we dropped, was a bill to fix the broken immigration system,’ she said defensively, blaming Congress for failing to pass it.
The vice president also recommitted to the idea of reparations for descendants of slavery.
‘It has to be studied, there’s no question about that,’ she said. ‘And I’ve been very clear about that position.’
