There are theories out there that Kanye West’s presidential run is actually an attempt to get voters who would have voted for Joe Biden to vote for him instead, thus taking votes away from Biden and improving Donald Trump’s chances at re-election. Whether or not that’s true, John Legend doesn’t think Kanye’s candidacy will actually have much of an impact on Biden at all.
Yesterday, Legend shared a tweet from Vice News senior political reporter Cameron Joseph, in which Joseph links to an article about the rumors of Kanye’s GOP ties and writes, “A little update — The GOP lawyer who helped @kanyewest get on the ballot in Wisconsin is actively working for @realDonaldTrump’s campaign. She’s the lawyer of record in their lawsuit to try to get a @prioritiesUSA anti-Trump ad pulled.”
Legend added, “Just in case anyone needs some clarity around what’s happening here.” He then replied to his own tweet, “Anyway…. Anyone reckless and/or misinformed enough to fall for the okey doke probably wasn’t voting for Biden (or voting at all).”
Anyway…. Anyone reckless and/or misinformed enough to fall for the okey doke probably wasn’t voting for Biden (or voting at all).
— John Legend (@johnlegend) August 5, 2020
He recently addressed Kanye less directly in a series of tweets in which he explained why he believes not all artists need to be political. Towards the end of his statements, he discussed a “futile 3rd party bid,” saying, “Part of an artist’s job is to imagine a different future. I appreciate the desire to break free from the strictures of the 2-party system in America, for instance. But you can’t divorce that conversation from the real world implications of rooting for a futile 3rd party bid. And the real world implications of electing (or reelecting) someone who doesn’t know how to run the government are particularly urgent and impactful in the middle of a pandemic that’s been so much more deadly due to an incompetent President. This is not merely an intellectual exercise. It’s life and death.”