Yahoo News John Legend opens up about racist paparazzo experience
John Legend has opened up about his experience of being racially accosted by a paparazzo this week.
The singer and La La Land actor was walking through an airport with his wife Chrissy Teigen when a paparazzo shouted: "If we evolved from monkeys, why is John Legend still around?"
Following the incident, Chrissy Teigen took to Twitter to share her disgust, and now John has opened up about how he reacted to the abuse.
"[Chrissy and I] were right next to each other and we looked at each other like, 'Did he really just say that?' And he really said it. He basically called me a monkey," he told Variety while appearing at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
"Black folks have had to deal with being called monkeys for a long time and dehumanisation has always been a method of racism and subjugation of black people."
John went on to say such racism is "part of American history" and it's unfortunate that it's a problem which still exists, but ultimately he said he wasn't "hurt" by the experience.
.@JohnLegend opens up at #VarietyStudio about his recent racist airport encounter with wife @chrissyteigen: "It's a shame that still exists" pic.twitter.com/BhZGsUvJyJ
- Variety (@Variety) January 22, 2017
"That's just part of American history and it's part of the present, apparently," he said.
"We saw it with the former president, Obama, whenever people wanted to discount him or discount his wife, they compared them to apes. And we've seen that frequently.
"You know, I'm not hurt by someone saying that to me because I'm smarter, I'm stronger," he added. "I look down on that person that would say something like that, but it's a shame that still exists."
In better news, John was at Sundance to promote the second season of his WGN America show Underground, and his current film La La Land isn't doing too bad either, collecting all the awards while the soundtrack which is currently rocking the UK album chart too.
And in all of that, he and Chrissy both still find time to support yesterday's Women's March on Washington, joining in the crowds at the protest that took place in cities the world over.
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