Jay-Z Says He Thinks America Needed Trump To Happen In The Latest Letterman Preview

Jay-Z and David Letterman continue to tease clips from the rapper’s upcoming episode on the late night host’s Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. In the latest preview, Jay-Z — who has been outspoken against the current President for the past year — notes that while Trump’s ascent has caused rifts in American culture, it has also prompted much-needed discussion about many of the underlying issues that have caused so much conflict.

When Letterman asks Jay about his assessment of the presidency so far, deadpanning that, “I’m beginning to lose confidence in the Trump administration,” to his guest’s amusement, Jay-Z gives a typically eloquent, well-reasoned response.

“I think it’s actually a great thing,” he says. “[What Trump] is forcing people to do is have a conversation and band together and work together. You can’t really address something that’s not revealed. He’s bringing out an ugly side of America that we wanted to believe was gone, but it’s still here and we still gotta deal with it. We have to have the tough conversations; we have to talk about the N-word, we have to talk about why white men are so privileged in this country.”

Letterman, for his part, agrees, adding, “We don’t need anymore evidence. ‘Is he a racist?’ ‘Is he not a racist?’ I’m tellin’ you, you’re having a debate over whether a guy’s a racist, chances are that guy’s a racist.”

Letterman’s guests have included hour-long interviews with such subjects as Malala Yousafzai and Barack Obama, so Jay-Z is in good company. The full interview premieres this Friday, April 6 on Netflix.

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