--- title: John Legend Calls Kanye West's Trump Meeting Publicity Stunt description: John Legend was candid when asked about his frequent collaborator Kanye West's meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday. canonical: https://time.com/4602602/john-legend-kanye-west-publicity-stunt/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-14T21:31:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:37.086Z og:title: John Legend Calls Kanye's Trump Meeting a "Publicity Stunt" og:description: Legend and West have been long-time collaborators og:url: https://time.com/4602602/john-legend-kanye-west-publicity-stunt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93364d199f9b784a/6988b2fde20a873734a93898/john-legend-kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 2015 MTV Video Music Awards - Backstage og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Legend Calls Kanye's Trump Meeting a "Publicity Stunt" twitter:description: Legend and West have been long-time collaborators twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93364d199f9b784a/6988b2fde20a873734a93898/john-legend-kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John Legend Says Kanye West's Meeting with Donald Trump Was a 'Publicity Stunt' > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Yes, Donald Trump Just Met With Kanye West [Watch (HLS stream): Yes, Donald Trump Just Met With Kanye West](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lENyrXRN.m3u8) (1:03)  _Published 2016-12-13. "We've been friends for a long time"_  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 14, 2016 9:31 PM UTC  John Legend and Kanye West attend the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/MTV1415/FilmMagic) John Legend and Kanye West attend the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/MTV1415/FilmMagic) Jeff Kravitz/MTV1415—FilmMagic  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 14, 2016 9:31 PM UTC While [Kanye West’s meeting with president-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/4599064/kanye-west-donald-trump-tower/) has elicited [no small number of celebrity reactions](http://time.com/4599582/celeb-reactions-kanye-west-trump-tower/), one in particular holds a significant amount of weight — that of his [frequent musical collaborator, John Legend](http://time.com/4476379/john-legend-activism-fatherhood-music/). During an interview with [_Clique_](http://www.complex.com/music/2016/12/john-legend-calls-kanye-west-meeting-with-donald-trump-publicity-stunt) in France, Legend was candid with his thoughts about Kanye’s meeting with Trump, going so far as to call it a “publicity stunt.” “I don’t think it’s impossible to talk to \[Donald Trump\] about issues, but I won’t be used as a publicity stunt,” Legend said. “I think Kanye was a publicity stunt. I’m pretty disappointed with Kanye that he says he would have voted for Trump. I think Trump has been corrosive, his message has been corrosive to the country. I think the things he’s promised to do have been very concerning for a lot of people, and for Kanye to support that message is very disappointing.” Legend, who belongs to West’s G.O.O.D. Music label, did not hold back on his criticism of the [president-elect.](http://people.com/celebrity/john-legend-donald-trump-jr-twitter-feud/) Watch the interview below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4602602/john-legend-kanye-west-publicity-stunt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4602602/john-legend-kanye-west-publicity-stunt/"},"headline":"John Legend Says Kanye West's Meeting with Donald Trump Was a 'Publicity Stunt'","datePublished":"2016-12-14T21:31:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:37.086Z","description":"Legend and West have been long-time collaborators","url":"https://time.com/4602602/john-legend-kanye-west-publicity-stunt/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","Kanye West","celebrity","Donald Trump","Culture","john legend"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93364d199f9b784a/6988b2fde20a873734a93898/john-legend-kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93364d199f9b784a/6988b2fde20a873734a93898/john-legend-kanye-west-donald-trump-meeting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2015 MTV Video Music Awards - Backstage","caption":"2015 MTV Video Music Awards - Backstage","creditText":"Jeff Kravitz/MTV1415—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4602602/john-legend-kanye-west-publicity-stunt/","name":"John Legend Says Kanye West's Meeting with Donald Trump Was a 'Publicity Stunt'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Yes, Donald Trump Just Met With Kanye West","description":"\"We've been friends for a long time\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lENyrXRN/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-13T15:34:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lENyrXRN.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4602602/john-legend-kanye-west-publicity-stunt/","duration":"PT1M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4602602/john-legend-kanye-west-publicity-stunt/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```