Janet Jackson has become a symbol of the dangers that can occur when misinformation and disinformation is allowed to go unchecked.
During a recent interview with the Guardian, Jackson repeated a false statement that continues to be perpetuated about VP Kamala Harris’ race.
When asked about the potential of a Black woman becoming President, Jackson revealed her lack of knowledge on the subject.
“She’s not Black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian,” Jackson said. “Her father’s white. That’s what I was told. I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days.”
Harris has always identified as a Black and Indian American. Her father, Donald Harris, an economist and former Stanford professor, is Afro Jamaican. Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a biomedical scientist, was from India.
The question surrounding Harris’ race was once just fodder for uninformed social media users. That’s until Donald Trump used old racist tactics to question Harris’ racial identity.
During his controversial appearance at the 2024 NABJ, Trump lied about Harris’ race while in a room full of Black journalists.
“She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she turned Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
Trump used a similar racist tactic years ago when he questioned Barack Obama’s citizenship, seeking a way to discredit Obama’s historic rise to become the first Black American President. Although it was proven that Trump lied, he was able to galvanize like-minded racists and jumpstart his political career.
Disinformation is the act of intentionally misleading the public with falsehoods, while misinformation occurs when a person embraces the disinformation and repeats it, at times without ill-intent.
Janet Jackson’s perpetuation of the false statement against Harris could have come from social media, or from someone in her inner circle. Janet’s brother, Randy Jackson, serves as her manager. Randy supported Trump in 2020 and his social media pages have several posts that promote conspiracy-theories.
After a statement of apology to Harris from Janet was issued by Mo Elmasri, a rep from her team disavowed the statement and Elmasri was fired.
But beyond the issues within Janet Jackon’s camp, the continuation of false statements has remained a major issue in during the 2024 Election.
Trump and J.D. Vance have both used their platforms to mislead the public which created havoc.
During the first Harris-Trump debate, Trump blamed Harris for immigration issues by falsely claiming that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating pets.
“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trumps said. When ABC News moderator David Muir fact-checked Trump on the false claim, he said he saw the story on TV.
But while Trump became the brunt of thousands of social media memes and jokes, the real-world impact caused danger for Haitians in Springfield who faced threats of violence following Trump’s statement.
Janet Jackson’s legendary status will not be compromised by the gaffe of making a false statement about Kamala Harris’ race. However, if a person who has access to unlimited resources and information can be misled, there are millions who have accepted lies without attempting to discover the truth.
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