The View cohosts weighed in today on Janet Jackson‘s ill-informed statement about the racial identity of presidential candidate Kamala Harris, with some on the panel taking the pop superstar to task for spreading misinformation and others calling for “grace.”
Watch the segment below.
The debate on the ABC daytime talker was prompted by a recent interview Jackson gave to The Guardian in which the “Rhythm Nation” singer repeated a Donald Trump lie questioning Harris’ race. “She’s not Black,” Jackson told the newspaper. “That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian.” When the Guardian reporter corrected Jackson, the singer said, “I was told that they discovered her father was white.”
Yesterday, Mo Elmasri, who claimed to be Jackson’s manager, issued an apology on Jackson’s behalf, though Jackson’s team later said Elmasri had not been authorized to do so.
The View cohosts’ opinions on the matter offered a spectrum of takes. Ana Navarro, for one, was not in a forgiving mood: “What she did was spread misinformation,” Navarro said, “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.”
Navarro then set the record straight by showing a photo of Harris’ Jamaican father holding an infant Kamala. Harris’ mother was Indian).
Cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin was put the blame for Jackson’s comments on the “information silos” that spread bad info, while Sunny Hostin, The View‘s sole biracial cohost, said she thinks folks should follow Harris’ lead by not giving the lie any “air.”
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg took a more lenient approach. “Janet Jackson,” Goldberg said, “is not a political animal. She’s a musician, her life is doing this, and she’s mourning her brother.” (Jackson’s brother Tito Jackson died September 15; the Guardian interview was conducted several weeks prior to the unexpected death, but published five days after.)
“Sometimes people get it wrong and they’re wrong,” Goldberg said. “They made a mistake, they were wrong. It happens….we all do it. So OK, a little grace for the girl. A little grace for the girl.”
