After only one listen to a John Legend song, you can get into a lengthy debate about whether the poignant lyrics or the singer’s melodious voice that makes his music so appealing. This week, Legend unintentionally made a strong case for the latter when he dropped by Britain’s The Nightly Show.
The episode, which was guest hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, featured an unorthodox performance: Legend crooning Ramsay’s notorious NSFW insults while playing the piano. If you don’t pay attention to the words coming out of Legend’s mouth, the music is just as charming as any other song performed by the Grammy-winning artist. But if you’re even partially alert, then it’s hard to miss Ramsay’s trademark insults, which are diluted of their intended offense courtesy of Legend’s musical rendition.
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The one liners took jabs at America’s foreign policy, a spinach-loving cartoon sailor and the beloved red-headed Weasley clan from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. They include:
“How the fuck did you burn ice cream?”
“There’s more olive oil on this than Popeye’s dick.”
“You put so much oil in this the U.S. wanted to invade the fucking plate.”
“I’ll get you more pumpkin, and I’ll ram it right up your fucking ass. Would you like it whole? Or would you like it diced?”
“You put so much ginger in this it’s a Weasley.”
The late-night show's sketch even includes a guest appearance from Ramsay. As the hilarious segment comes to an end, Legend sings “Why did the chicken cross the road?” and Ramsay pops up next to Legend to answer, in song: “Cause you didn’t fucking cook it.”
While the sketch was promoting the fictional album Gordon by John Legend, we can only dabble in some wishful thinking that a real album drops, featuring Legend’s voice and Ramsay’s zingers, for our comic relief.