Pop star John Legend has lectured people in his hometown of Springfield, Ohio, to accept the many “challenges” posed by the “massive influx of Haitian immigrants” – while insisting that local pets are safe from appearing on dinner tables.
“You may have heard about Springfield, Ohio this week,” Legend, 45, said in a statement. long instagram video He said Thursday that his hometown was “discussed by our presidential candidates” in last night's debate.
“Nobody is eating cats. Nobody is eating dogs,” the two-time Emmy Award-winning singer insisted, apparently dismissing the now-viral claims shared by former President Donald Trump.
“Shall we love someone else?” he asked, introducing himself as his real name, “John R. Stevens, of Springfield.”
The “All of Me” pop star said that although there has been an “influx of Haitian immigrants” to her native city, this happened while Springfield's population had been “decreasing for decades.”
“We didn't have enough opportunities, so people left and went somewhere else,” said Legend, who changed his Instagram handle to show he's from Springfield despite having moved here years ago.
“When I was there, we had over 75,000 people, and in the last five years that number has dropped to 60,000,” he said.
He said Haitians who “came to our country legally” helped fill those jobs — while also acknowledging the “challenges” posed by the newly arrived immigrants, who have caused his hometown’s population to “increase by 25%.”
Legend said these “growth troubles” for Springfield included the arrival of people with “new languages, new cultures” — and “new dietary preferences.”
“There are a lot of reasons why this could be a challenge for my hometown,” he said, comparing it to immigrants who have arrived for decades chasing the “American dream.”
“I think we all need to extend the same grace that we wanted our ancestors to extend to our Haitian brothers and sisters.”
Legend also told his followers some “facts about immigrants.”
“They usually do very well here,” Legend said. “They work hard. They're ambitious. They commit fewer crimes than Native Americans, and they will assimilate and integrate over time, but it takes time.”
“I grew up in a Christian tradition. We were told to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and treat strangers as if they were Christ,” Legend said.
“So, why don’t we adopt that ethos when we talk about immigrants coming into our communities and not spread hateful, xenophobic, racist lies about them,” he concluded the lecture, ending the video as “John R. Stevens from Springfield.”
The claim that Haitian migrants are eating pets gained strength earlier this week, when Trump declared on the presidential debate stage that migrants in Springfield were kidnapping them to eat.
“They're eating dogs. They're eating cats. They're eating the pets of the people who live there,” the Republican candidate said.
The debate moderators quickly fact-checked him and pointed out that city officials have said the claims are false.
In an interview News Nation Speaking to anchor Chris Cuomo, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue dismissed claims made by the former president about Haitian immigrants in his city.
“Springfield is still beautiful and your pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio,” Rue told the former CNN anchor.
“So what this is, what it has done is it has created a negative light, obviously, which we didn't see coming, we didn't ask for this.”
Rue said there is no control over migrants coming into the city, but rumours of their alleged bizarre behaviour are “disappointing”.
“These claims are absolutely false. And we can also say that we have not received any such reports. There is a lot of talk about this on the Internet, but we are not seeing anything like that. It is a bit disappointing.”
Rue also supported claims that more jobs have been created in the city, which has attracted Haitian immigrants to Ohio City.
“We’ve been in an economic decline for a long time, and in the last 10 years we’ve lost about 8,000 jobs in our community,” Rue said.
“There are a lot of good things happening in Springfield.”
