John Legend has a message for the president: Trump for Peace Prize 2026!
But, hear him out. The singer posted a video on his Instagram yesterday saying that he believes President Donald Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize… with one big stipulation.
“He’d have to stop all this authoritarian dictator sh*t, all the fascist sh*t, all the inhumane sh*t he’s been trying to do,” Legend said.
Legend argued that the president could potentially earn the prize in a year if he reverses the executive actions he’s ordered around the country. From the immigration crackdown to the police takeover in liberal cities.
“The so-called ‘peace president,’ who’s ending wars around the world, would also have to stop declaring war on the American people, stop sending the military into our cities simply because they’re run by Democrats,” Legend said. “Stop sending masked, unaccountable ICE agents to torment immigrant communities. Stop ordering the prosecution of his political opponents on flimsy charges.”
It seems that Trump’s desire to be honored prompted this response from Legend, who has performed at a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. The 13-time Grammy winner pointed out in his video that President Trump was hoping to receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year for brokering a peace deal between Israel and Hamas. The award was given to María Corina Machado of Venezuela, a key leader in the opposition to the country’s current president, Nicolás Maduro, and his militarized government.
The White House released a statement acknowledging the president’s belief that he was snubbed by the Nobel Foundation.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House spokesperson Stephen Cheung wrote in a post on X.
The president also took his anger out on former President Barack Obama, who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize during the first year of his administration in 2009.
“They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.
President Trump is leaving the country today on visits to Israel and Egypt to commemorate the new ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. He is supposed to make an address in Israel on Monday.
Commenters on Legend’s post were surprised by the proposition, following along to understand the meaning of his kind-of-sarcastic, kind-of-encouraging tone in the video directed to Trump. As a believer in “positive reinforcement,” Legend said he was using the parenting skill in his message. He credited the president for his “instrumental” role in the Middle East truce and implored him to bring those efforts to the homeland.
“As a parent, I’ve learned that kids respond really well to positive reinforcement,” he said. “So Donald, we’ve tried negative reinforcement, impeachment indictments, voting you out of office. So let’s try positive. Let’s promise that if you get it together, you change your awful behavior, you’re going to get that peace prize that you so so so badly desire, and I’ll be so proud of you.”
