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I tend to think if you like smooth R&B singers, you’re probably at least a moderate fan of Miguel. My favorite is probably his current hit, “Coffee,” which gets caught in my head constantly these days. Miguel is 30 years old and while I don’t recall him being particularly politically active in past years, he was asked about the state of American politics by the British magazine NME. His answer was surprisingly incisive, especially considering 2015 seems to be the year for celebrities saying dumb sh-t about politics, feminism and assorted hot-button issues. Here are some highlights from Miguel’s NME interview:

How he feels about Donald Trump’s supporters: “There’s a tremendous responsibility that we all have just to not be f–king ignorant.”

His thoughts about Trump hosting SNL: “I believe it will be good for the ratings, I’m sure that’s how they’re looking at it too. But you know, I think there’s also a responsibility that you have to have. And I don’t think ignorance deserves that kind of attention and unfortunately we live in a world where attention is the ultimate currency. His ability to aggregate attention is valuable to a network, a business where advertising is the source of income. And that means you need as much attention as possible. If I was asked to perform on the same episode as Donald Trump, I would be faced with the same decision as the network. And me being who I am I would definitely decline, probably at my own detriment.”

On Trump’s suitability for the presidency: “It’s really sad that even at that level there is this ignorance that exists. I think issues of racial, economic, social, sexual discrimination, these discriminations are a worldwide thing, a human thing. It doesn’t only exist in the States, it doesn’t only exist here in the UK, it’s everywhere. Everywhere there are people that believe that other groups you know, based on however you wanna categorise them are lesser people in some way shape or form.”

Who is he supporting in 2016? “I don’t have any particular candidate that I’m into. Because I’m not clear on what each viable candidate standing is on the issues that matter to me yet. And I don’t vote for party, you know. When I do vote it’ll be for the candidate that wants to do something about the issues that matter to me and that’s the best thing that we can do.”

[From NME]

I mean… this is how to talk about tricky political issues in a print interview. Take note, celebrities. It’s fair game for a celebrity to call out Trump, and I don’t even think what Miguel said about Trump was even that bad. Trump IS ignorant. But I love that Miguel is bringing it around to larger ignorance in society towards so many groups. Damn… I guess I’m a Miguel fan now.

Photos courtesy of WENN.
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