Whoopi Goldberg has called for “a little grace” to be shown towards Janet Jackson, after the pop icon sparked controversy with comments she made about US vice president Kamala Harris.
During Monday’s edition of The View, Whoopi and her fellow panellists discussed the Grammy winner’s remarks, which she made during an interview with The Guardian over the weekend.
Asked about the forthcoming election, the Together Again singer said of Harris: “You know what they supposedly said? She’s not Black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian.”
When the Guardian’s interviewer pointed out that Democractic presidential candidate is, in fact, mixed race (Harris’ mother was an Indian biologist, while her father is an economist from Jamaica), Janet then repeated the falsehood: “Her father’s white. 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.”
After her fellow commentators shared their view on Monday, Whoopi agreed that while Janet has “got a phone” she could use to educate herself on the news, she is “a musician” rather than “a political animal”.
The Oscar winner also reminded viewers that Janet is currently “mourning her brother” Tito, who died last week at the age of 70.
“I, sometimes, have said stuff, and I was wrong,” Whoopi said. “But people want you to [address that] right away [and] when people are coming at you, saying, ‘you’re dumb’, ‘you don’t know…’, you don’t want to answer people. And it’s a pain in the butt.”
She continued: “Sometimes people get it wrong, and they’re wrong. They made a mistake, it happens. Anybody who says it doesn’t happen to every one of us, we all do it. So, OK, a little grace for the girl.”
HuffPost UK contacted Janet’s team for comment on Monday, but did not receive a response.
The chart-topping star is yet to speak publicly about the controversy, with Variety claiming that Janet and her brother Randy Jackson, who is her manager, were both “unavailable for comment” as they are still said to be in mourning for Tito.
Janet is due to embark on her first UK tour in more than a decade later this week.