photo via getty.
Janet Jackson closed out the Essence Festival in New Orleans on Sunday night. During her performance, Janet took a few minutes to pay tribute to her father Joe Jackson who passed away two weeks ago.
Janet told the crowd, "You know it's always difficult when you lose a loved one and to be quite honest it was really hard for me. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to move forward. If I should cancel this festival, cancel the entire tour.
She continued, "Then I talked to my brother and we started to speak about my father's strength. He was very strong. Without his drive, his strength, we wouldn't have the success. We're a black family that came from Gary, Indiana, and we broke all kinds of records around the globe. That's truth."
Fighting back tears, Janet said, "My father was a great man and my brother, he asked me, he said, 'If he were here right now, listening to this conversation, what do you think he would say to you?' And I think my father would've said, 'Janet, please. Finish what you've started.'"