Rapper Jay-Z called President Trump’s reported “shithole” comments toward African nations “disappointing” and “hurtful” in an interview Saturday.
“We have a president that comes and says every African country is a ‘shithole country,’ how does that land with you as a dad?” CNN’s Van Jones asked the Grammy Award-winning rapper.
“It is disappointing and it’s hurtful. It really is hurtful,” Jay-Z said. “Everyone feels anger, but after the anger it’s really hurtful.”
Trump ignited a firestorm with his comments in a closed-door immigration meeting with lawmakers earlier this month when he reportedly referred to the home countries of African and Haitian immigrants seeking entrance into the U.S. as “shithole countries.”
The African-American artist, a longtime friend of former President Obama, said the comments were especially disappointing coming from the nation’s leader.
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“Because it’s looking down at a whole population of people and it’s so misinformed because these places have beautiful people and beautiful everything. This is the leader of the free world speaking like this,” he added.
Jay-Z figured that Trump’s vulgarities toward African nations came from some misconception he picked up in life, saying “somewhere along his lineage something happened to him. Something happened to him and he is expressing it in this sort of way.”
Jones’s interview with Jay-Z will air on the premiere of “The Van Jones Show” Saturday night at 7 p.m. on CNN.