John Legend is setting the file straight: Donald Trump did not spoil his friendship with Kanye West.
However political variations actually contributed to his fallout with West, the EGOT-winning singer says in a brand new interview with the New Yorker. Whereas Legend (actual identify: John Stephens) credit the rapper with popularizing his “lofty stage identify,” the pair have clashed over politics in recent times. In April 2018 West famously shared Legend’s texts urging him to “rethink aligning [himself] with Trump,” and final 12 months accused him and fellow rapper Huge Sean of “sellout s***” for supporting the Democrats quite than backing West’s personal 2020 presidential bid.
It was the latter problem, not the disagreements about Trump, that bothered West extra, Legend, 43, tells the New Yorker. The singer says his remarks throughout an August episode of David Axelrod’s The Axe Information — through which he mentioned, “I truthfully assume as a result of we publicly disagreed on his operating for workplace, his supporting Trump. I believe it turned an excessive amount of for us to maintain our friendship.” — had been misconstrued.
“Yeah, what it acquired described as was, we stopped being buddies as a result of he supported Trump, which was a mischaracterization of what I mentioned,” Legend now says. “That was type of the Rupert Murdoch model of the story — it was all around the New York Put up and Fox Information.
“What I used to be saying was that he was very upset with me that I didn’t help him operating for president, and that was the actual impetus for us having a pressure in our friendship,” the “All of Me” singer clarified. “I don’t know what is going to occur sooner or later, however he was very upset with me that I didn’t help him and I supported Joe Biden. It’s as much as him whether or not he can get previous that.”
Whereas West, 45, made his emotions plain in an interview final November — “I don’t rock with neither of them and I would like my apologies,” he mentioned of Legend and Huge Sean, whom he described as “scared” — Legend says he is tried to take a gentler strategy.
“Everybody noticed how I talked to him about it,” he mentioned, referencing his 2018 texts to West. “I talked to him with love and with empathy, and tried to assist him see one other manner of taking a look at issues. And clearly he went the way in which he went with it. Essentially the most irritating factor about his run for the presidency for me was how a lot it was an operation run by the Trump marketing campaign. I don’t understand how conscious he was of the truth that there was a lot Trump personnel all through his marketing campaign, elevating cash for him, getting petitions signed for him, getting him on the poll. I noticed their work on his behalf as a transparent rip-off and an operation to attempt to siphon Black votes away from Biden, so there was no manner I used to be going to help it. Kanye was upset with that, and we haven’t been buddies since, actually.”
Legend expressed his wrestle to “penetrate” voters like West who sees issues in a dramatically completely different manner.
“Clearly, I haven’t been profitable in that individual regard!” he mentioned of attempting to attach along with his former producer. “Most of my political work has been about encouraging people who find themselves already inclined to assume near the place I’m to exit and vote and become involved. I don’t understand how you persuade somebody who believes in a different way than you do. And a few of these beliefs are actually strongly held. I’ve a number of spiritual individuals in my life, as an illustration, and it’s arduous to know easy methods to persuade somebody when it feels such as you’re talking in a completely completely different language.”
He added, “I don’t need to dwell a life that’s so consumed by politics that it’s the only real determinant of who could be my pal and who can’t. However values matter and character issues and ethical compass issues.”
