Singer John Legend has called on the film industry to take on U.S. President Donald Trump who he said was “preaching a message of hate and fear, division and exclusion.”
Legend made the comments while attending the Producers Guild Awards in Beverly Hills on Saturday (January 28) as thousands protested across the U.S. and around the world against Trump’s executive order targeting people from seven Muslim majority countries.
“I’m happy to do what I can to help great art get out there. You know as storytellers we have a responsibility to tell interesting stories, entertaining stories, also stories that show different people’s humanity and I think in this time where we’re seeing a president Trump who has preached a message of hate and fear, division and exclusion, we as content creators and content producers have the power to tell different stories, stories that humanize people all over the world, humanize those who are marginalized, humanize refugees and immigrants,” Legend told reporters.
“This nation is a nation of immigrants and I believe in what the statue of liberty says about bringing people from all over the world here, people who may have experienced a lot of difficulty, people who are feeling war and oppression and America should continue to have our arms open to them and I think producers have the responsibility to help stories about that get told as well,” he added.
Legend both acts in and is an executive producer of musical “La La Land,” which won the PGA’s top prize on Saturday, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures.
Sunday (January 29) saw renewed protests as tens of thousands of people rallied in U.S. cities and at airports to voice outrage over Trump’s executive order restricting entry into the country for travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
