John Legend to racist paparazzo: ‘I’m stronger, I’m smarter’

John Legend has spoken out about the paparazzi that compared him to a monkey.

Last Thursday, the “Love Me Now” singer and wife Chrissy Teigen touched down at JFK airport, and were verbally harassed by a bonehead paparazzo. Teigen immediately took to Twitter to recount the experience, writing, “Paparazzi at JFK just asked me ‘if we evolved from monkeys, why is John Legend still around?’ … Also, John is right next to me. The balls.”

Appearing at Sundance on behalf of “Underground,” which he executive produced, Legend got real about the experience with Variety.

“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 it’s part of the present, apparently.” He continued, “I’m not hurt by someone saying that to me because I’m smarter, I’m stronger.”

Let’s get a couple of things straight. Calling black people monkeys, or even associating their appearance with apes is racist AF, period. It’s literally never acceptable. Second of all, John Legend is super, super fine and extremely, very talented. If you want something to shout at him, call him “sweet cheeks” or “very beautiful” or “a sight to behold.” Maybe shout out, “Hey! I really loved your debut studio album ‘Get Lifted!’” You know, something positive and nice and not racist and awful.

Just a suggestion.