Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

John Legend Opens Up About Not Supporting Ye Running For President: 'He Was Very Upset With Me'

John Legend Opens Up About Not Supporting Ye Running For President: 'He Was Very Upset With Me'
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for City Harvest; Jonthan Brady/PA/Getty Images

John Legend says fellow musician and one-time 2020 presidential candidate Ye "was very upset with me" after he declined to support his longshot campaign.

The two men had previously clashed over Ye's support for former Republican President Donald Trump, and Ye felt betrayed that Legend continued supporting Democrats, according to a new interview Legend had with The New Yorker.


Legend said that comments he made last month during an episode of David Axelrod's The Axe Files—when he stated that he and Ye had "publicly disagreed" about Ye running for office and his support for Trump—had been misconstrued.

He set the record straight to The New Yorker:

"Yeah, what it got described as was, we stopped being friends because he supported Trump, which was a mischaracterization of what I said. That was kind of the Rupert Murdoch version of the story — it was all over the New York Post and Fox News."
"What I was saying was that he was very upset with me that I didn’t support him running for president, and that was the real impetus for us having a strain in our friendship."
"I don’t know what will happen in the future, but he was very upset with me that I didn’t support him and I supported Joe Biden. It’s up to him whether he can get past that."

Legend and Ye initially had a falling out in 2018 after Ye shared Legend's texts urging him to "reconsider aligning [himself] with Trump," and Legend says that he tried to talk to Ye "with love and with empathy, and tried to help him see another way of looking at things."

He added:

"The most frustrating thing about his run for the presidency for me was how much it was an operation run by the Trump campaign. I don’t know how aware he was of the fact that there was so much Trump personnel throughout his campaign, raising money for him, getting petitions signed for him, getting him on the ballot."
"I saw their work on his behalf as a clear scam and an operation to try to siphon Black votes away from Biden, so there was no way I was going to support it. Kanye was upset with that, and we haven’t been friends since, really."

Many have praised Legend for speaking out, lauding his integrity.





Ye announced on Twitter in July 2020 that he would be running in the 2020 general election, which made him the subject of considerable online mockery.

When he finally conceded defeat, Ye teased a 2024 run.

In December 2021, The Daily Beastreported that Ye's presidential campaign received millions of dollars in services from a secret network of Republican Party operatives, including Republican elite advisors and a managing partner at one of the largest conservative political firms in the United States.

His campaign committee also did not report having paid some of these advisors and used an abbreviation for another advisor, constituting a potential violation of federal laws. According to campaign finance experts, these actions were done in an attempt to hide any connections between Ye's presidential campaign and Republican operatives.

More from People/donald-trump

Donald Trump; Shigeru Ishiba
Fox News; Kiyoshi Ota/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Trump Just Proved He Has No Idea Who Is Leading Japan With Unhinged Comment On Fox News

Lending credence to longstanding rumors that he uses nicknames for both opponents and allies because he lacks the mental capacity to remember anyone's name—including his wife "Melanie"—MAGA Republican President Donald Trump dubbed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba "Mr. Japan" in a weekend appearance on Fox News.

The current POTUS spoke to longtime MAGA minion Maria Bartiromo on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures about the state of his trade negotiations, which he previously bragged had resulted in 200 deals.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jonathan Bailey
Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM; @fallontonight/YouTube

Jonathan Bailey Has A Clarinet Solo On The 'Jurassic World Rebirth' Soundtrack—And It's Too Cute

Jonathan Bailey seems to be making a career that involves living out the dreams of his younger self.

With the new Jurassic Park sequel, Bailey got to live every dinosaur kid's dream and be in a movie with them. He was also able to get his orchestra geek on while the score was being recorded.

Keep ReadingShow less
Right-Wingers Roasted Over Bonkers Conspiracy That Oil Is Secretly A Renewable Energy Source
Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

Right-Wingers Roasted Over Bonkers Conspiracy That Oil Is Secretly A Renewable Energy Source

Right wingers basically never met an absurd conspiracy theory they wouldn't immediately fall for, and their favorite one about petroleum is a doozie.

Many conservatives are convinced that oil—you know, the stuff made of millions-year-old fossils compressed underground—is actually a renewable energy source. "They" are just not telling us!

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump sitting at his desk in the oval office; An elderly Black woman
Joe Raedle / Staff/Getty Images; @funnyphilduck/TikTok

Grandma Goes Viral After Refusing To Say Trump's Name During Medical Evaluation

When a healthcare professional tries to determine someone's cognitive abilities, they tend to ask a few routine questions.

These can include "do you know where you are?" and "what year is it?" Oftentimes, medical professionals ask "do you know who the President of the United States is?"

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

RFK Jr. Admits That Banning Fluoridated Water Will Cause 'More Cavities'—But He's OK With That

Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was criticized after admitting in a Fox News interview with Harris Faulkner that his proposed fluoridated water ban would likely lead people to have more cavities—but defended the move nonetheless.

While fluoride is not federally mandated in drinking water, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had long recommended its inclusion. Fluoride helps prevent cavities by strengthening enamel, and numerous studies have shown that fluoridated water reduces tooth decay in both children and adults.

Keep ReadingShow less