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Integrity and Misinformation: Lessons from the Janet Jackson Controversy
Episode 179 • 17th October 2024 • TonyTidbit: A Black Executive Perspective • TonyTidbit ™
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Episode Audio Link: https://podcast.ablackexec.com/episode/integrity-and-accountability-lessons-from-public-figures

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In an insightful episode combining elements from 'Need to Know' and the Black Executive Perspective podcast, Dr. Nsenga Burton delves into the essential themes of integrity, accountability, and the responsible handling of misinformation. Focusing on Janet Jackson's controversial comments about Vice President Kamala Harris, Dr. Burton discusses the significance of public figures acknowledging their mistakes, offering genuine apologies, and committing to rectification. The episode underscores the broader impact of these actions on one's career and personal legacy and encourages listeners to maintain integrity and stay well-informed as key aspects of leadership and decency.

▶︎ In This Episode

  1. 00:00: Introduction to Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton
  2. 00:20: Janet Jackson's Controversial Comment
  3. 01:01: The Fallout and Reactions
  4. 02:10: Professional Perspective on Janet Jackson
  5. 02:39: Leadership and Accountability
  6. 03:22: Janet Jackson's Legacy and Current Challenges
  7. 04:50: Final Thoughts on the Controversy
  8. 05:08: Identity and Self-Identification
  9. 05:52: The Importance of Knowing Your Representatives
  10. 06:52: Understanding Integrity
  11. 07:18: The Impact of Misinformation
  12. 08:08: Final Thoughts on Integrity
  13. 08:37: Conclusion and Farewell

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Transcripts

BEP Narrator:

A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know

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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Dr. Nsenga Burton: Good afternoon.

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Thank you for tuning into

need to know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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I am your host, Nsenga Burton.

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Today, we're going to be

talking about Janet Jackson, Ms.

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Jackson, if you're nasty, uh, who has been

in the middle of a firestorm of criticism

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because during an interview with the

Guardian publication, When asked about

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our current vice president, Kamala Harris,

his historic run for the White House, she

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said, or repeated some misinformation.

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I would call it disinformation, but

misinformation has been circulating

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about vice president Kamala Harris.

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And that is that her father is white,

which we all know is incorrect.

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He is Jamaican and there

are white Jamaicans.

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He's just not 1 of them.

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And so.

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She has been caught up in a firestorm.

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Uh, 1 of her colleagues, he was not

authorized to make a statement on her

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behalf, but he made a statement probably

trying to save what is probably going

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to be a lot of money gone or lost for

a show that he's executive producing

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for her in Vegas made a statement.

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That was a mistake.

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She had received misinformation.

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Didn't mean to make the comment and.

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You know, for all intents and

purposes, you know, it was a mea culpa.

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Well, um, Miss Jackson and team, and

she's managed by her brother, Randy,

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uh, refuted that they made the apology

and then fired said person, colleague,

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uh, for making the statement because

they weren't authorized to do so.

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So, of course, now there's even

more hysteria and foolishness

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surrounding what is a very singularly.

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Terrible event in one's life.

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So some people, including her

friends, like whoopi Goldberg have

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been like, just give her grace.

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Others have been like, Oh, she's

been living in London for the last

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eight years and all of these things.

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So I wanted to talk about it from

a professional perspective because

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Janet Jackson is an industry.

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She's an icon.

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She's a business.

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And, you know, whether she's lived in

London for 8 years, whether she's a

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Jehovah's witness, practicing or non

practicing or whatever, all that she's

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raised as a Jehovah's witness, whether

or not she's bereaved because her older

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brother Tito passed away last week.

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None of that is acceptable in

terms of the statement that she

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made and it is misinformation and

she should just simply apologize.

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Sometimes as leaders, particularly

in our corporations and in our

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workplaces, we make mistakes.

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You know, um, and in the same way

that we have to apologize, people

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have to be able, or we willing to

receive them, but we make mistakes.

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We do things that we shouldn't

do sometimes say things that

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we shouldn't say we misspeak.

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Sometimes you have incorrect information.

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Sometimes you don't know the

whole story and you're speaking

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from a point of authority and you

misrepresent someone's intentions.

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Or their contribution, sometimes

we overlook people's contributions

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because we're not sure, or we're not

aware of the extent to which they have

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contributed to a project or to something

that turned into something fabulous.

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And so you're thinking 1

person or 2 people, and it's

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really 8 people behind it.

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You know, these things happen, but

in this case, it's more significant

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because Miss Jackson is an icon.

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She is a legend and she is a role model.

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And she is an industry and she

part of her image has always been,

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uh, someone who is accessible, you

know, someone who, um, is, you know,

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taking control of her life, right?

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She's empowered, even with

the Super Bowl debacle.

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Um, she recovered from that.

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It took a long time, but

she recovered from that.

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And people empathize with her because,

you know, we believed it was a mistake.

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And even if it wasn't a mistake,

it did not warrant the kind of

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backlash that she got from it.

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And, you know, the.

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The, uh, attacks and, um, really the

labeling and the hate, you know, from,

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uh, the former CBS president, Les Moonves,

who, you know, worked for years to keep

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her out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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So, you know, we understand that

Miss Jackson has been through

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things, you know, she's a woman.

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She's African American woman.

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She's an icon and a star.

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But there are certain things that

you have to know as the leader and

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as the leader of a group of people,

she is the leader of corporation.

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She has many, many people on her team.

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She does many, many

different types of things.

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You know, she's an entertainer and she's

supposed to have a Vegas residency that

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I would say is probably in jeopardy.

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Although it's Vegas.

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So, you know, you know, whatever happens

in Vegas stays in Vegas, but you know,

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some things that could be in jeopardy

for her based on this one mishap.

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Um, so I would say, stop with the excuses.

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You know, she's lived in California

most of her life and Kamala Harris

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has been making history, uh,

in California her entire life.

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So she should actually know who Kamala

Harris is and know enough about her.

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To know that she is a black

identified woman, you know,

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she's biracial multiracial.

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Many people are sometimes people refer

themselves as biracial and multiracial.

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Other times people choose

1 of the categories.

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Right?

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But that's up to them.

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We all have the right to identify.

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However, we want to identify

and to present ourselves

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in the way that we want to.

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So, Kamala Harris has chosen

to identify as a black woman.

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For most of her life, you know, she's

never denied her Indian heritage.

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She's never denied her mother.

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If you've read any of her books,

she has to, you should read them.

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Um, you know, that she's very

proud of her Indian heritage.

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So, um, that doesn't mean that

she doesn't that she isn't black.

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That just means that she is multiracial,

like most people in the United States.

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So, um, yeah, I say to miss

Jackson, um, you know, you should

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know that it doesn't matter.

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And not only to miss Jackson, but

to everybody, it doesn't matter

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what your religious practices are.

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You don't have to vote, you know,

as part of your religious practice,

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but you really should know who your

representatives are in your own state.

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You should know who's running for

president, and you should know

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something about them, even if it's

not your candidate, you know, um.

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You know, even if you're not voting

for Kamala Harris, you should know who

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she is, like, legitimately, you know,

if you're not voting for Donald Trump,

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you should know who he is legitimately

if you're going to be silly enough to

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not participate in the voting process.

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That's that's your decision.

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That's your prerogative.

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But you should know who the candidates

are, what their platforms are as

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a business leader as someone who

pays other people has someone

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who other people look up to.

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You should at least have the basic

information and being part of a religion.

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Not living in California

for the last eight years.

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Um, and, you know, somebody telling

you, which I mean, Janice older

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than me, somebody told me the wrong

information is not good enough.

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That's not going to get it.

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So, this leads me to the final

point, which is integrity.

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Integrity is knowing the difference

between what is right and wrong.

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And choosing what is right, most of

the time, and if you choose something,

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choose to do the wrong thing, you

know, intentionally or inadvertently

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accidentally, it's apologizing and

meaning it and try not to do it again.

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That is called integrity.

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And so I think the backlash has

nothing to do necessarily with

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her having being misinformed.

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I mean, we live in a world of

misinformation and disinformation.

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It is our norm, but it's the

unwillingness to have integrity and

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to say, listen, I made a mistake.

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I shouldn't have said that I

shouldn't have said it because I

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didn't know what I was talking about.

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And I understand that that has

hurt a lot of people who love

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me and I don't want to do that.

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So I apologize.

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I will do better.

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Right?

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That's integrity.

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I will do better.

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I will not do it again.

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And I look forward to repairing my

image and being the person that you

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have known me to be most of my career.

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That is not hard to do at all at all.

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So, the fact that that has not happened.

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Uh, since, you know, this debacle,

uh, means that it is going to affect

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her, uh, bottom line, uh, wholesale.

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It's just going to

affect your bottom line.

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Like, that's just what it is.

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So my advice and my need to know

today is to try to stay away again.

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We already had this episode from

this information and disinformation.

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Try to stay away.

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And if you do say something that you

didn't intend to say, if you do pass on

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misinformation, if you do make a mistake,

just have the integrity and the decency

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to admit that you made a mistake and to

say that you will try to do better and

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not do it again and then actually do that.

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That's it.

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So thank you for joining me today on

a black executive perspective podcast.

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Join me next week and I

wish you a wonderful day.

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Stay focused, stay informed and

definitely have some integrity.

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Like remember, integrity is

number one when it comes to

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being a decent human being.

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All right.

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Have a great day.

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BEP Narrator: A black

executive perspective.

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