John Legend mocks Trump’s false vote claim, invites Twitter pile-on
Musician also ridiculed the US president’s use of the word ‘hereby’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Singer-songwriter John Legend has mocked Donald Trump online after the US President falsely claimed electoral victories in several US states.
On Wednesday (4 November), Trump wrote that the Republicans had won in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan – which they had not.
Trump tweeted: "We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won’t allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump lead.
“Additionally, we hereby claim the State of Michigan if, in fact, there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported!”
Both tweets were flagged by Twitter as containing potentially misleading information.
Legend, who has been a vocal critic of the president throughout his time in office, then invited his followers to ridicule the president’s false claims by making fabricated boasts of their own.
“Let’s all claim things we don’t have any right to. What y’all got,” he wrote, adding: “To be clear, you have to say ‘hereby’ to make it legally binding.”
Some used the prompt to issue political declarations targeting the Trump administration, with one person writing: “I hereby claim Trump Tower to house hundreds of folks who are currently or are about to be homeless due to the mismanagement of the pandemic and utter lack of concern or assistance from the GOP & current administration.”
Other responses, however, were more esoteric, with one respondent writing: “I hereby declare a new season of [cancelled Netflix series] The OA shall start filming henceforth. @netflix I proclaimth thee my property and ye shall maketh it so. With haste.”
You can keep up with the latest developments with the US election here.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments