John Legend is speaking out for the first time after an unfortunate incident where a member of the paparazzi compared him to a monkey at the airport.
Legend is showing some Obama-level class in how he’s handling this. Last week, his wife Chrissy Teigen wrote on Twitter that the two of them were approached by paparazzi, and then subjected to some bad, racist jokes.
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/822172505779662850
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/822171932636381184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/822174552352493569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Legend himself never Tweeted about the event, but now he has surfaced telling his account.
In an interview with Variety, Legend says that he was shocked at first, but then, he realized that he was probably living a better life than that guy and got over it.
Legend says:
“We looked at each other like, ‘Did he really just say that?’ And he really said it. He basically called me a monkey. Black folks have had to deal with being called monkeys for a long time, and dehumanization has always been kind of a method of racism and subjugation of black people. That’s just part of American history—and it’s part of the present, apparently…I’m not hurt by someone saying that to me because I’m smarter, I’m stronger. I look down on that person that would say something like that. But it’s a shame that it still exists.”
Legend also called attention to how White supremacists constant called former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle “apes” to discredit them. Watch Legend’s entire statement below.
Photo: Screenshot
