John Legend (L), Kanye West.Photo: Bruce Glikas/WireImage; Brad Barket/Getty
John Legendis addressing where he stands withKanye West.
In an interview withThe New Yorkerpublished Sunday, the “All of Me” singer, 43, referenced a recent interview in which he saidhis friendship with West, 45, endedbecause of their political differences.
“Yeah, what it got described as was, we stopped being friends because he supported[Donald] Trump, which was a mischaracterization of what I said,” Legend explained. “That was kind of the Rupert Murdoch version of the story — it was all over theNew YorkPostand Fox News.”
He went on to clarify, “What I was saying was that he was very upset with me that I didn’t supporthimrunning 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 supportedJoe Biden. It’s up to him whether he can get past that.”
Legend said that although he doesn’t think political views “should be everything in your relationship,” he does “believe that certain things you believe in are indicators of your character, and obviously that will affect your friendships.”
John Legend and Kanye West.Matthew Simmons/WireImage
During the conversation, Legend also opened up aboutWest posting screenshotsof their text conversation on Twitter in 2018, when Legend spoke to West about supporting Trump.
“Everyone saw how I talked to him about it. I talked to him with love and with empathy, and tried to help him see another way of looking at things. And obviously he went the way he went with it,” Legend said.
“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.”
A representative for West did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Last month, Legend spoke about his relationship with the 24-time Grammy winner, tellingThe Axe Filespodcast with CNN’s David Axelrod, “We aren’t friends as much as we used to be.”
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“I honestly think because we publicly disagreed on his running for office, his supporting Trump. I think it became too much for us to sustain our friendship,” Legend said at the time.
Legend and West used to be close, and even worked on several songs over the years, with West producing for Legend as well as them both doing fully featured collaborations including 2005’s “Number One” and 2008’s “It’s Over.”
source: people.com
