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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.
\u201cMy new New Yorker Interview: John Legend called me from his Italian vacation to talk about his new album, his very online life with Chrissy Teigen, grief, religion, mass incarceration, and, yes, Kanye West. @johnlegend https://t.co/ZPXFpqKavH\u201d— Michael Schulman (@Michael Schulman) 1662296478
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.
\u201cI love what John Legend said about why he\u2019s no longer friends with Kanye. It\u2019s not just about politics, it\u2019s about character and values. If you\u2019re doing foul shit and not trying to be your best self, I can\u2019t get down with you. I only want positive people in my life.\u201d— Dr. Melissa Daniels-Rauterkus (@Dr. Melissa Daniels-Rauterkus) 1662338402
\u201cWhat a great interview. It's so refreshing how open @johnlegend is. \nI really respect and love this guy and his music.\u201d— MomsThoughts\u2122 (@MomsThoughts\u2122) 1662302528
\u201cSAY IT LOUD AND CLEAR!! Values Matter, Character Matters and Moral Compass Matters. John Legend says Kanye West 'was very upset with me that I didn\u2019t support him running for president' https://t.co/vNwmVJmC1A via @Yahoo\u201d— JW Johnson (@JW Johnson) 1662415054
\u201cI love this man.\u201d— Michaela Watkins (@Michaela Watkins) 1662307833
\u201c@MJSchulman @maggieNYT @johnlegend Great read. Reinforced my belief that John Legend is as wonderful of a human being as is his voice.\u201d— Michael Schulman (@Michael Schulman) 1662296478
\u201c@MJSchulman @johnlegend Great article!! I\u2019ve always enjoyed his music and am right there with him on everything he believes and fights for. \ud83d\udc95\ud83d\udc95\u201d— Michael Schulman (@Michael Schulman) 1662296478
\u201cJohn Legend says Kanye West 'was very upset with me that I didn\u2019t support him running for president' \n\nJohn Legend refused to support crazy. That\u2019s normal. https://t.co/m2VS004YxV\u201d— CitizenWatch (@CitizenWatch) 1662340266
\u201cKanye West is a clown fr. Would\u2019ve done the same too https://t.co/j1nuS2li1S\u201d— Jose Olvera (@Jose Olvera) 1662435000
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.
\u201cKANYE 2024\u201d— ye (@ye) 1604480690
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.