Lest you had any doubts it is now safe to assume John Legend won’t be endorsing presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
The Grammy-award winning musician made his views on the Republican candidate loud and clear on Twitter Friday night, calling him a “racist.”
Legend made the comment in an exchange with Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. over clashes between Trump supporters and demonstrators Friday night at a Chicago campaign rally.
The exchange drew widespread attention, prompting Legend to wonder out loud on Saturday what the big deal was.
.@DonaldJTrumpJr I think they were protesting your racist father. This isn't complicated.
— John Legend (@johnlegend) March 12, 2016
“I called the sky blue last night. This is not news,” he said in a tweet that has since been deleted.
As cameras captured interviews from Friday’s rally, Trump Jr. said on Twitter that five students who were asked why they were protesting “couldn’t even answer.”
In contrast, “Trump supporters were articulate” while “the antis could barely speak and had no answers.”
“It’s pretty embarrassing,” he said in a series of tweets. “The participation medal/micro-aggression generation is pretty sad.”
In response, Legend offered this assessment of the demonstrators’ motivations: “I think they were protesting your racist father. This isn’t complicated.”
Trump Jr. took note of Legend’s comment and responded “Here we go again. That can’t be the answer for everything you don’t like. That’s why the country is so divided.”
“No,” Legend clapped back. “It’s just the answer when racist racists are saying racist s—t and are endorsed by the KKK,” an apparent reference to Ku Klux Klan members who have showed up at Trump rallies and endorsed his candidacy.
As Trump supporters unleashed their social media fury at Legend, one Twitter user going by RedKneckHillBilly called Legend “disgraceful” and said he had “no education.”
In response, Legend pointed out that he attended the same college as the Trumps, the University of Pennsylvania.