John Legend says Kanye West is ‘serious’ about running for president

The musician said the rapper has told him “multiple times” he’d be interested in running

John Legend has said Kanye West is “serious” about running for president in a new interview.

The rapper has hinted previously that he wants to be in the running to enter the White House in 2024, sharing what appeared to be mocked-up campaign posters on his Twitter page. The posts have since been deleted.

Speaking on the Dan Wootton Interview podcast, Legend said: “I think he’s serious. I’d guess he’d run as an independent, but he’s never told me anything about what party he would run from. But he’s said multiple times that he’s interested in running for president.”

He added: “I think that’s a part of why he likes Trump. I think he sees some aspects of himself in Trump and sees that Trump winning makes it feel like he could do it too.”

2024

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018

Legend also spoke about West sharing screenshots of their text conversations, specifically ones in which the Jesus Christ Superstar star had asked the rapper to reconsider his support for Donald Trump. “I was stunned when he posted the texts,” he explained. “But then, my other side of me was like, ‘I’m glad I said what I said and I’m glad people know what I said to him because I think so many people were worried that Kanye was saying the things he was saying and there weren’t people advising him differently.”

The musician said West had not had any effect on his own political beliefs, saying: “I think it’s pretty overwhelming from the perspective of African Americans – we believe [Trump]’s a racist, we believe he’s not a good human being.”

Meanwhile, earlier this week (September 6), West served as creative director for the PornHub Awards and debuted a new song with Lil Pump at the event.

He designed the trophies handed out at the ceremony, as well as providing wardrobe and styling for the night’s presenters. “Kanye has designed a bespoke erotica-inspired award statue for each of tonight’s unique categories. In line with the futurist theme, the award statues represent imagined alien sex toys,” a statement from the awards show organisers said.