Jay-Z on Trump: ‘He’s bringing out an ugly side of America’

Jay-Z says in a new interview that President Trump is “bringing out an ugly side of America” that many hoped had faded away.

In the newest episode of David Letterman’s Netflix special, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,” the rapper says he thinks Trump’s presidency is “a great thing” because it is forcing people to have “tough conversations” about race in America, as well as bringing activists together.

{mosads}”What he’s forcing people to do is have a conversation and for people to band together and work together,” Jay-Z said. “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. And it’s still here and we’ve got to deal with it.”

He added that Americans need to address tough topics related to race.

“We have to have tough conversations,” he said. “We have to talk about the N-word and we have to talk about why white men are so privileged in this country.”

Jay-Z criticized Trump earlier this year in the aftermath of the president’s reported reference to African nations and Haiti as “shithole countries,” calling the comments “disappointing” and “hurtful.”

Trump fired back in a tweet:

Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2018

Jay-Z’s sit-down with Letterman is the fourth episode in the six-part interview series. So far, he has interviewed former President Obama, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and actor George Clooney.