Entertainment

Rihanna lambasts ‘mentally ill’ Donald Trump over US gun control

The singer and fashion mogul made her comments in a wide-ranging interview for Vogue magazine.
The singer and fashion mogul made her comments in a wide-ranging interview for Vogue magazine.

Rihanna has said Donald Trump is “the most mentally ill human being in America right now”.

The pop siren, 31, previously threatened the US president with legal action after he used her song Don’t Stop The Music at one of his political rallies.

In a wide-ranging interview for Vogue magazine, the November cover star attacked Mr Trump for failing to describe the recent spate of mass shootings across the US as “terrorism”.

The Rude Boy singer also labelled US gun laws “completely racist” and said that attacks in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, this year had made her feel “sick to my stomach”.

She told the publication: “It is devastating. People are being murdered by war weapons that they legally purchase. This is just not normal. That should never, ever be normal.

“And the fact that it’s classified as something different because of the colour of their skin? It’s a slap in the face. It’s completely racist.

“Put an Arab man with that same weapon in that same Walmart and there is no way that Trump would sit there and address it publicly as a mental health problem.”

UK’s ambassador in Washington leaded memos
US president Donald Trump (Brian Lawless/PA)

“The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president,” she said.

“What do you say? What can you say? It’s gonna get better? I almost feel sick to my stomach.”

Twenty-nine people were killed in separate incidents this year in El Paso and Dayton, and dozens more were injured.

The Barbados-born London-based star, real name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, also addressed her relationship with Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel, adding that she “without a doubt” wanted to have children.

“Yeah, I’m dating,” she said.

“I’m actually in an exclusive relationship for quite some time, and it’s going really well, so I’m happy.”

Rihanna, who earlier this year was named the richest woman in music by Forbes, has founded a fashion empire that includes her Fenty Beauty cosmetics line and Savage x Fenty lingerie brand.

She admitted that conflicting projects had stopped her from working on her long-awaited reggae-influenced ninth album, tentatively titled R9.

Rihanna said: “I have been trying to get back into the studio. It’s not like I can lock myself in for an extended amount of time, like I had the luxury of doing before.

“I know I have some very unhappy fans who don’t understand the inside bits of how it works.

“I like to look at it as a reggae-inspired or reggae-infused album. It’s not gonna be typical of what you know as reggae. But you’re going to feel the elements in all of the tracks.”

She added that the Navy, her fan club, have “earned it”, adding: “They got me here.”

She also rubbished claims she was done with making music.

She said: “Oh, nooo. Music is, like, speaking in code to the world, where they get it. It’s the weird language that connects me to them.

“Me the designer, me the woman who creates makeup and lingerie – it all started with music. It was my first pen pal–ship to the world.

“To cut that off is to cut my communication off. All of these other things flourish on top of that foundation.”

The full interview can be found on Vogue’s website.