John Legend Is Not Here For Trump’s Verbal Attacks Rooted In White Supremacy

John Legend has never minced words when it comes to the man who occupies the Oval Office, and this week, in an interview with NowThis News, the All of Me singer went in. In light of the two deadly attacks on New Zealand mosques, Legend is speaking out once again and calling for an end to the racist and hateful rhetoric coming from the highest office. “When people of such influence and such stature are endorsing such a hateful, evil ideology, it emboldens those who will go out and do something really evil and nasty, like what happened in New Zealand,” Legend said. The producer and activist also called on Donald Trump to apologize for the way he has treated brown people, including those trying to cross our borders in search of asylum. “That rhetoric of invasion, that rhetoric of violence, of scaring white people to think that these brown people are going to rape and kill their families — that rhetoric is inspiring people to do these kind of massacres,” Legend told NowThis. Although Trump condemned the mosque attacks, he refused to admit that white nationalism is a growing, international problem. Instead, he told reporters that the terrorist assaults are being carried out by “a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.” Even so, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports a dramatic increase in the number of white nationalist groups in the U.S., from 100 chapters in 2017 to 148 in 2018, and hate groups in general have seen a 30 percent increase since Trump’s inauguration. “I think what’s clear is that there is an issue around the world, and particularly in this country, in America, when it comes to the evil rhetoric and ideology of white supremacy,” Legend said. “This ideology and this rhetoric has been spread, a lot of it on the internet, but a lot of it has been either endorsed or tacitly kind of winked at by our president.”