Photo: Thurstan Redding for WSJ. Magazine
John LegendandKanye Westhave hada long friendship, and the pals made news earlier this year when they got into adebate on Twitterover therapper’s pro-Trump views.
Now, the “All of Me” singer, 39, is speaking out in anew interview withWSJ. Magazinefor its annual INNOVATORS issue about his relationship with West, 41, and why it was important for him to respond publicly on social media.
“A lot of people have tried to armchair-diagnose him, but I leave it to him and his doctor to discuss what’s going on in his brain,” Legend says in the interview (shared exclusively with PEOPLE) about West, who previously revealed he wasdiagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“Clearly I disagreed with some of the things he was saying, and I was worried that his saying it might empower some of the wrong forces, might be really demoralizing for people who looked up to him and thought of him as a leader.”
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Acknowledging that his friend may be drawn toPresident Donald Trump‘s “personality” and “marketing panache” and his “don’t-give-a-f—ness,” Legend, who was named entertainment innovator of the year, explained that he didn’t want fans to blindly follow West’s views.
“My point to him was that when you wear that hat, when you appear to be endorsing him, you’re endorsing his policies as well, all of his rhetoric and not just the parts you like,” said Legend. “I think we had to talk about it, because we didn’t want people to be deceived into following his line of thought without considering the full ramifications.”
Thurstan Redding for WSJ. Magazine
However, he doesn’t see himself seeking office any time soon.
“People ask me if I want to run for office, but I don’t,” admitted Legend. “Maybe when I’m 60 — who knows what the world is going to be then? — but I love my life now and what I get to do. Part of me does want those things — when I hear things our leaders are saying, I’m like, ‘If it were me, I would do this, this and this.’ But I would not want to go to work every day, even at the Capitol Building or the White House. I just couldn’t see it as the life I would want to live.”
That being said, Legend has long been asupporter of education and prison reform, and he plans to continue advocating for these issues no matter who is in office.
Indeed, the star wrote an essay when he was 15 years old in which he told himself he would one day use his voice as an artist to make a difference in the world.
Said Legend: “That essay said, ‘This is what I want to do — I want to become an artist, work in the music business, be successful and use that success to be a leader in other ways.’ If you read that essay, what I planned to do is almost to a T what I’m doing right now.”
WSJ. Magazine‘s INNOVATORS issue hits newsstands Nov. 10.
source: people.com
