John Legend Opposes Travel Ban on Muslims and Slams Donald Trump

John Legend has slammed President Donald Trump as anti-American.

In an inspiring speech, the Oscar-winning singer-songwriter last night appealed to his fellow entertainers to take a stand against Donald Trump (pictured), telling the Producers Guild Awards, held in Beverly Hills, California, that the Republican president's political views are anti-American.

Legend was at the ceremony to represent the musical La La Land, in which he stars alongside Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

"We are the voice, the face of America," Legend said, introducing a clip from director Damien Chazelle's multi-Oscar nominated film. "Our America is big, it is free and it is open to dreamers of all races, all countries, all religions."

Legend was very direct in his condemnation of the new President.

"Our vision of America is directly antithetical to that of President Trump,” he added, "and I want to specifically tonight reject his vision and affirm that America has to be better than that."

Legend's speech was delivered after Trump signed an enormously controversial executive order, which suspends the arrival of refugees for at least 120 days and denies access to people coming to the US from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen for at least three months.

Since then, intending travellers from those countries have been stopped from boarding US-bound planes, leading to angry protests as well as detentions at airports.

"This is a film about love,” Legend said of La La Land, "about dreams, and about this lovely city we call home, Los Angeles, California.

"Los Angeles,” he added, "is the home of so many immigrants, so many creative people, so many dreamers – and those of us who work in this business have the privilege of shaping how the world perceives this country we love."

Brought up in Springfield, Ohio, Legend, to date has ten Grammys and an Oscar to his credit – the latter for the song ‘Glory', written for the 2014 civil rights movie, Selma.

He revealed that he and his wife had considered not turning up to the awards, in solidarity with protesters who have taken to streets and airports against the travel ban imposed by Trump. Instead, he told the audience, he had decided to make a donation to the American Civil Liberties Union.

"There's a lot of money and power in this room,” he said, "and I hope you will use it for something good. Let’s all continue to stand up together for what is right."