Janet Jackson thanks ailing father, who tweets 'the sun sets when the time comes'

Janet Jackson used her speech at the Radio Disney Music Awards to give a shout out to "positive people" in her life, and specifically her father, who is reportedly in the final stages of terminal cancer.

During her acceptance speech Friday in Hollywood for the first-ever RDMA Impact Award, which will henceforth be called the Janet Jackson Impact Award, Jackson thanked her family and "my incredible father."

Earlier that day, various media reports said that the Jackson family patriarch was gravely ill, with Britain's The Daily Mail quoting her brother Jermaine as saying that their father has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Janet's dad, Joe, is known for having a managerial style described as abrasive at best and abusive at worst, according to several Jackson children.

On Sunday, Joe's Twitter account featured a photo of him with text that seemed to confirm that he's sick: "I have seen more sunsets than I have left to see. The sun rises when the time comes and whether you like it or not the sun sets when the time comes."

Janet said onstage at the Dolby Theatre, "(My father) drove me to be the best I can."

She also thanked other members of her family from the podium: "My siblings set an incredibly high standard, a high bar for artistic excellence (and) my mother nourished me with the most extravagant love imaginable."

She continued: "Every day I'm impacted by young people such as you, whose precious idealism is demanding social change. ... Sometimes, though, having an impact can be a simple act: It can be a smile, a handshake, a hug."

Jackson was introduced at the awards show by former Fifth Harmony member Normani Kordei and former Disney Channel star Raven-Symone. Other winners at the RDMAs included Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, BTS, Shawn Mendes and Bebe Rexha.

WSBTV