--- title: TIME 100: John Legend on Activism Under President Trump description: In a video interview with TIME, Legend talked about the nexus of his art and activism canonical: https://time.com/4743134/john-legend-time-100-video/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-20T11:00:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-21T07:15:06.520Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: John Legend on Activism Under President Trump og:description: He is "heartened" by the response of American people og:url: https://time.com/4743134/john-legend-time-100-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ef418051cf6412b/6988c340a988ca82fa6bbc9e/time-100-2017-john-legend.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1988 og:image:height: 1118 og:image:alt: time-100-2017-john-legend og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Legend on Activism Under President Trump twitter:description: He is "heartened" by the response of American people twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ef418051cf6412b/6988c340a988ca82fa6bbc9e/time-100-2017-john-legend.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John Legend on Why Activism Matters Under President Trump > Sponsored content. 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Apr 20, 2017 11:00 AM UTC Artist and activist [John Legend](http://motto.time.com/4741035/chrissy-teigen-john-legend-celebrate-luna-birthday/) feels a duty — in the vein of role model Nina Simone — to reflect the times in which we live through his work. In a video interview with TIME, Legend talks about the nexus of his art and activism, the political climate under [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4742454/paul-ryan-approval-rating-donald-trump/) and why he remains optimistic for the future of the United States. “I’m concerned about what’s happening in America when it comes to race and racism,” Legend says. “Obviously I was very disappointed with the outcome of the last election. I feel like our current president and the regime that works with him is actively working to take the country in the wrong direction.” Still, the singer says he has been inspired by seeing Americans come out to [protest the current administration](http://time.com/4741547/tax-march-nyc-trump-returns-tea-party/) and a spike in political activity since the election. **MORE** [See Who Is on TIME’s List of the Most Influential People of 2017](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/) “I’m also heartened by the response that the American people have shown,” he says. “I’ve seen the activism on the street. I’ve participated in marches. I’ve seen really a surge of interest in the political system and how ordinary people can get involved in the political system and make change happen.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4743134/john-legend-time-100-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4743134/john-legend-time-100-video/"},"headline":"John Legend on Why Activism Matters Under President Trump","datePublished":"2017-04-20T11:00:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:15:06.520Z","description":"He is \"heartened\" by the response of American people","url":"https://time.com/4743134/john-legend-time-100-video/","keywords":["TIME 100","TIME 100","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ef418051cf6412b/6988c340a988ca82fa6bbc9e/time-100-2017-john-legend.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ef418051cf6412b/6988c340a988ca82fa6bbc9e/time-100-2017-john-legend.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"time-100-2017-john-legend","caption":"time-100-2017-john-legend","creditText":"Photograph by Miles Aldridge for TIME","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":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4743134/john-legend-time-100-video/","name":"John Legend on Why Activism Matters Under President Trump"}}]}] ```