What Worries John Legend the Most About the Trump Administration

In light of Donald Trump's inauguration as the president of the United States, plenty of Hollywood's biggest stars have spoken out — and acclaimed musician John Legend is certainly among them. In just the past few months alone, Legend has been vocal about Trump's political actions and some of the experiences he's had since Trump became president-elect . . . namely, a heinous, racist incident with the paparazzi that happened at an airport in NYC. Legend even participated in one of the many Women's Marches that stormed the globe just after Trump's inauguration. We touched base with Legend for a phone interview late last week to talk about his new Super Bowl partnership with LIFEWTR, but of course we couldn't help but ask a few questions about the current political climate. We're pulling some choice quotes below:

"I think a lot of the things we were marching for were concerns. When you talk about women's rights, there are some in his administration particularly that want to roll back the clock. Women and their reproductive rights. They think women don't necessarily deserve equal pay. So I'm concerned about those things. I'm concerned about his rhetoric and recent actions regarding immigrants — immigrants from the south, and also immigrants who worship differently than others, particularly Muslims and people coming from Muslim countries.

I'm particularly concerned about making sure as many Americans as possible have access to affordable health care. I think Obamacare took us very far in the direction that we need to go, but we haven't gone all the way yet. And I think rolling back that progress will be devastating to a lot of people. Truly, when it comes to health care, this is not just a political game. It's life and death for a lot of people . . . All we can do as citizens is continue to stay engaged, and then eventually, when it's time to vote, we have to show up."

"Well, I think with our Twitter accounts, both of us have been trying to inform people and let them know what's going on and how to respond. And from what I've been reading — particularly from a lot of people that have worked in Congress and have worked with Congress — a lot of times the most effective thing is to just call your congressperson in your district and make sure they're standing up for what you believe in. They respond to the pressure of the people. Their job is to get elected by us, and to represent us. So a lot of times, the most important thing we can do is just let them know how we feel, and let them know when we disagree, and let them know when we support what they're doing so they feel the pressure from the citizens. And hopefully they think of us as their bosses, because we can decide whether or not they can come back in a couple years."

"It was really beautiful. We were at Sundance, and we were there to celebrate the new season of Underground, the television show that I produce. We decided to join the march as a cast and creative team of Underground. We wanted to march in solidarity with the women on our team, and also all the women that were marching in Sundance and all around the world. It was really inspiring to be there — to hear the messages of love and solidarity and determination, to come together and stand up for the rights of those that might be forgotten or left behind or ignored by this new administration."

"We were in contact, and it was really cool! Chrissy really loved being in DC, and obviously that was the original march that was scheduled, and all the other ones kind of came up in response to that. I feel like DC was kind of the center and the inspiration for it all. But, as you know, more people marched outside of DC than actually marched in DC. It was cool being part of a connected group of people all around the world . . . We're standing together for human rights."