John Legend Isn’t Hurt, Looks Down On Photographer Who Called Him a Monkey

By Ricky Riley | Published on: January 23, 2017 Comments (0)

After being insulted by a member of the paparazzi last week, singer John Legend took the high road and educated white people on how racists use the word “monkey” to dehumanize Black people.

“Black folks have had to deal with being called monkeys for a long time and dehumanization has always been kind of a method of racism and subjugation of Black people and that’s just part of American history and a part of the present, apparently,” Legend tells Variety Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Sundance Film Festival.

Legend’s wife, model and actress Chrissy Teigen, took to Twitter Thursday, Jan. 19, to recount the encounter she had with the photographer at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. In a series of tweets, Teigen said that the paparazzi implied that Legend was a primate after asking relatively harmless questions about Teigen’s cooking, reported Atlanta Black Star.

To add insult to injury, Legend was right there as the photographer made the incendiary remark.

https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/822171772229451778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/822171932636381184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/822172505779662850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

While he admitted that these racist incidents are all too common, Legend said that he isn’t hurt by the paparazzi’s statements.

“We saw with the former President Obama, whenever people wanted to discount him or discount his wife, they compared them to apes,” he recalls. “And we’ve seen that frequently. I’m not hurt by someone saying that to me because I’m smarter, I’m stronger. I look down on that person that would say something like that. But it’s a shame that it still exists.”

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Still independent.

Related Stories

‘You Piece of S—t!’: McDonald’s Worker Fired After Allegedly Barging Into Restaurant and Accusing Black Teens of Smoking Crack, Then Attacking Girl

‘Yeah, I’m a Karen!’: White Florida Woman Records Black Locksmith’s Every Move Thinking She’s a Burglar, Then Doubles Down with Wild Accusation

‘Wipe That Smirk Off His Face’: Maxine Waters Corners Scott Bessent on Live TV, Then Fires Off the 5-Word Line That Ends Him