John Legend Opens Up About How His Relationship With Kanye West Has Changed
Back in 2004, two new artists burst onto the music scene releasing their debut albums. Kanye West with The College Dropout and John Legend’s Get Lifted, both celebrated for their bold originality and musical prowess. Their collaborations and friendship became well known in the industry but as West has become more controversial, Legend now says that they are no longer friends and while he believes in forgiveness, it must come with consequences.
In a recent interview with New York Magazine podcast, On With Kara Swisher, Legend offers deep insight into his strained relationship with West and what he believes is behind the recent anti-Semitic remarks and bad behavior.
"I do find him different than he was back then. I didn't see hints of this kind of harmful behavior back then, but you know I think life happens to people and I think the death of his mother [Donda West in 2007] probably had something to do with this. I don't want to play armchair psychologist, but he's definitely changed and a lot of us who have known him over the years are really concerned about it,” said Legend.
Legend admitted that he knows there are people in West’s camp who have tried to get him professional treatment over the years, but that does not include himself.
During the podcast interview, Legend also explained why he posted a tweet on October 9 saying, “It’s weird how these ‘free and independent thinkers’ always land on the same old anti-blackness, anti-Semitism” where it’s clear he was speaking about West without naming names.
"I think we need to be clear about how insidious and nasty antisemitism is and has been for centuries," said Legend. "How it's caused millions and millions of deaths. It’s cropped up in societies all over the world, and it's made life very difficult for Jews all over the world for a long time. And it is not some new discovery. It's not some innovation in hate."
In response to West's "White Lives Matter" shirt stunt during his 2022 Yeezy Fashion show, Legend continued, "And we don't need to do much digging to understand how evil anti-Blackness has been in this country, particularly. The history is robust and has been discussed very often, but for someone who's supposedly free thinking and independently thinking, landing back at these very tried and true forms of hate and bigotry – it’s harmful and it doesn't help anyone."
