alphastreet said:

I just felt most black people have defended mj, and John didn’t in spite of working with him

Well, what you feel or what Legend said about Jackson has nothing to do with being a sellout.

Sellout is a bullying word. Fans of an artist don't want their artist being involved in commercial ventures. But shit, who's selling and buying those records, paying for studio time, paying for the tour, merchandise, etc? Who's cashing checks? The artists! "Please buy my music, don't download it for free." "SELLOUT!" Shut up, already. Damn.

Just because Prince didn't let his music in a commercial, he was still a sellout by corporate standards. He worked with record companies and businesses in exchange for promoting his music and making money. He went back to Warner years later, plus worked with Arista, and CBS Sony. That's not selling out? Oh right, that was a handshake deal. I forgot.

Let me expand: Was MJ a sell out in 1984 when The Jackson's had Pepsi promote their Victory Tour? Was Lionel when he did the same thing? Was Elton John when he did Diet Coke commercials with Paula Abdul? Was MC Hammer when he did a soda commercial?

These folks are doing their jobs, whatever those jobs are that they get hired for or sign up for, see. I used to know Dave Holmes, a bit, from MTV. He once got on his Twitter or something because people were bugging out that he was in a Ford commercial. He said, "Folks, I'm doing my job. I'm a TV personality, I'm a face and a voice, a host. This is what I do. So doing a car commercial isn't selling out. It's doing my job." (that's a fairly accurate summation of his words, not verbatim).

Is Jennifer Aniston a sellout for hocking Aveeno lotion? She was one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood for the better part of a decade, and still is to a great extent. But she's selling body lotion. She selling out? Where's your line of defense on this?

Dave Holmes was right. Every big beer, liquor, or soft drink company sponsors a rock star to pay for the tour, etc. It's business.

And while I don't recall anyone calling Stevie Nicks, Tina Turner, Lindsay Buckingham, David Crosby, or Bruce Springsteen sellouts in recent weeks and months when they sold their catalogs. Oh no, that was a good move, set up for the rest of their lives, and their heirs, too. That was a smart move. But this caramel shaded singer does it, and he's a sellout? Doesn't make sense.

He can do with his music whatever he wants. I don't care what he did or didn't say about Michael Jackson. He wasn't Judge John Legend. He's Teigan's husband at most, these days.