“Call me Nico.”

Chance The Rapper collaborator Donnie Trumpet has taken the drastic step of ditching his stage moniker to avoid any association with divisive US president-elect Donald Trump.

In the light of Trump’s ill-fated win this week, the Chicago artist, who was the driving force behind 2015’s Surf album, is asking fans to start calling him by his family name Nico (full name Nico Segal).

Posting on Instagram yesterday (November 11), Segal writes that the Donald Trump-inspired name began as a joke and “a silly play on words” but has now taken on a more “hateful” and “hurtful” meaning.

“I don’t want to be misrepresented or misunderstood. Trump’s beliefs are not mine. From this point on, call me Nico,” he states. “I am proud to be part of a multicultural family, from the great City of Chicago. I am grateful for the diversity of friends and family who have taught me and believed in me and encouraged me. I couldn’t stand to ever hurt them, or you.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMrOj7WgIeZ/?taken-by=nicosegal

In the same note, Segal says that he began to rethink his stage name during Chance The Rapper’s Magnificent Coloring World Tour. “Something heavy was looming over me — Donald Trump — and the connection people are drawing between his name and mine,” he writes.

Chance later tweeted that he was “proud of his brother Nico Segal” for making the change.