Miguel has spoken out against business man Donald Trump and his bid to become the next President of the United States.
Discussing his thoughts on how people should respond to Trump’s electoral campaign, he told NME, “there’s a tremendous responsibility that we all have just to not be fucking ignorant.”
Asked whether it was right that Donald Trump should appear as the next celebrity host on popular US television show Saturday Night Live, Miguel explained that the decision was most likely made to bring in ratings.
“I believe it will be good for the ratings, I’m sure that’s how they’re looking at it too. But you know, I think there’s also a responsibility that you have to have. And I don’t think ignorance deserves that kind of attention and unfortunately we live in a world where attention is the ultimate currency.”
Ben Bentley/NME“His ability to aggregate attention is valuable to a network, a business where advertising is the source of income,” he continued. “And that means you need as much attention as possible. If I was asked to perform on the same episode as Donald Trump, I would be faced with the same decision as the network. And me being who I am I would definitely decline, probably at my own detriment.”
Miguel explained that he thought people were drawn to Trump because he was “an established business man” and might offer an answer to “national debt.” However, this did not mean he was necessarily a suitable candidate for presidency, “it’s really sad that even at that level there is this ignorance that exists,” he said.
“I think issues of racial, economic, social, sexual discrimination, these discriminations are a worldwide thing, a human thing,” Miguel continued. “It doesn’t only exist in the States, it doesn’t only exist here in the UK, it’s everywhere. Everywhere there are people that believe that other groups you know, based on however you wanna categorise them are lesser people in some way shape or form.”
“I don’t have any particular candidate that I’m into,” he added. “Because I’m not clear on what each viable candidate standing is on the issues that matter to me yet. And I don’t vote for party, you know. When I do vote it’ll be for the candidate that wants to do something about the issues that matter to me and that’s the best thing that we can do.”
Miguel’s third album ‘Wildheart’ came out in June this year. He is currently touring the album and is playing three UK shows this week. Following London’s Brixton Academy on Tuesday (October 13), Miguel plays Birmingham Academy tonight (October 15) and Manchester Academy on Sunday (October 18).
Watch the full interview below.