Former vice president Kamala Harris is reflecting on a moment of accountability that left a lasting impression during her presidential campaign—comedian D.L. Hughley’s public and private apology.

In a conversation with Scott Evans on his show House Guest, Harris shared her gratitude for Hughley’s willingness to admit that he had once spread misinformation about her.

“Can you imagine, he did it publicly, and he did that on his own,” Harris said during the interview with Evans. “I think he’s an amazing man, an amazing human being that he has the strength to be able to be so vulnerable, to say that.”

During Harris’s 2024 campaign, Hughley repeated a false narrative that she was responsible for locking up large numbers of Black men while serving as a district attorney in California. But at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Hughley reversed course, offering a public apology. 

“As president, she will give each and every one of us a fair shot in life. But I have to admit I didn’t always believe that. If you told 15-year-old me [I] would be on stage supporting a prosecutor and a teacher…there’s no way that I would’ve believed you,” Hughley said at the time, The Grio reports. 

He added:  “Because of that, I made assumptions about Kamala’s record and I often repeated them to a lot of people. Then one day, Kamala invited me to her house, she put her hand on my shoulder and she asked me to do some research. Something I had never done. Something a lot of people I know had never done before. Imagine attacking someone’s character without a single Google search.”

In a later interview with Big Boy TV, Hughley explained his thinking, saying, “Your apology should be as loud as your accusation.” 

Harris, who has faced years of sharp criticism, also told Evans she relies on faith to stay grounded: “We are all in this together, and we just have to believe. We have to have faith in ourselves and each other.”