Kanye West posts private texts with John Legend about Trump, says 'don't let peer pressure manipulate' your politics

Not even John Legend can talk sense into Kanye West.

The friends and collaborators, who are tight enough to go on Waffle House dates with their wives, are now in a public dispute about West’s Donald Trump love during in his wide-ranging Twitter rant on Wednesday. Legend first posted several tweets online reacting to West’s support of the president. (West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, also said she disagreed with her husband.) Apparently, Legend — or “JL” — then reached out privately to West to ask him to reconsider all the “MAGA” talk. West not only wouldn’t back down, but he took their private text exchange and posted it on Twitter today.

John Legend and Kanye West have been friends forever. Will politics divide them? (Photo: Matthew Simmons/WireImage)
John Legend and Kanye West have been friends forever. Will politics divide them? (Photo: Matthew Simmons/WireImage)

It started with this vague tweet:

Then — bam — it got a lot more specific:

He made it clear that he was unmoved:

When Legend learned that West, who has produced many of Legend’s albums, had posted their text online, he continued to make his case — and emphasize that the rapper’s opinions can have an impact on the masses.

Then Legend added a funny line promoting his single “A Good Night.” West was happy to emphasize that, adding a friendlier tone to the exchange.

Legend’s wife, Chrissy Teigen, is the Twitter queen, so of course she was asked about it. She made it clear she didn’t have much on the topic. She also made it clear that her husband wasn’t aware that West was going to post their conversation online.

After West posted part two of the text exchange, she posted again with a humorous tone.

Kardashian, who generally defended her husband yesterday (minus his political preferences), then joined the conversation — thanks to Teigen.

Kim K. made it clear things were good — and joked about the drama that has been created by phones this week.

Teigen then joked that she was going to invite one of Trump’s biggest fans, the Happy Days star. So things definitely became playful and funny.

Meanwhile, a new story on TMZ suggests that West is creating all of this social media drama as a planned publicity blitz for his new music, and his behavior is actually the opposite of erratic. If this was so planned, maybe he could have someone check his spelling and grammar.

Is this the end of their Waffle House double dates? Kardashian and West with Legend and Teigen at an Arizona Waffle House:

Double date at the Waffle House

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Feb 1, 2015 at 1:24am PST

West and Legend go way, way back. Legend explained that West is the cousin of one of his college buddies. He was performing in 2001, and West was invited along to check him out. West went on to produce several albums for Legend, and they have various song collaborations. Legend told Oprah in 2013 that while they “obviously have very different personalities … [Kanye’s] a genius creatively and I think the public can see that.” And he made clear that “a lot of who he is in public is who he is in private. People also don’t always see the generous side of him; they don’t see the guy who’s been working with me and contributing to my work for more than 10 years.”

This isn’t the first time the men took their political disagreements public. After West visited a then-President-elect Trump at Trump Tower in late 2016, Legend said, “I won’t be used as a publicity stunt, and I think Kanye was used as a publicity stunt. He also said that he was “pretty disappointed in Kanye that he would have voted for Trump.”


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