A protester from the organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), disrupted a speech being given by Pharrell Williams at a Biopic Premiere in Toronto. She rushed the stage with a white sign in her hand that read: Pharrell: Stop Supporting Killing Animals for Fashion. Pharrell was in Toronto to support his LEGO biopic entitled, Piece by Piece.
The protester directed a number of statements towards Pharrell and the audience concerning his role as men's creative director at Louis Vuitton.
"Your Louis Vuitton collection … Pharrell’s collection is made from their blood,” the protester shouted to the audience. “Pharrell stop torturing animals! Ostriches are being hung upside down, electrocuted with their necks slit.”
PETA is petitioning Louis Vuitton to stop abusing animals and using their bodily materials for the purpose of fashion creation. During the protest, Pharrell made a pause during his speech and outrightly agreed with the protester. "Ok. Ok. You know what. You're right. Yes. You're right. God Bless you. Everybody give her a round of applause please," said the designer. He then proceeded to repeatedly state, "God Bless you" before telling the audience, "Everybody give her a round of applause please."
As the protester was dragged out of the premiere by security, Pharrell continued to address the audience. He stated that when a person has plans to change things, it's important to get into positions of power in order to influence and change minds about issues. It seems as if he may have possibly had meetings during his tenure at Louis Vuitton when he said, "In sitting in my position, when I have conversations on behalf of organizations like that unbeknownst to them, they come out here and do themself a disservice."
Pharrell further went on to say that he is working on fixing the issues described by PETA and everyone in the room will remember when he said so.
PETA made a comment on a social media post about the turn of events.
"We would be happy to stop disrupting @Pharrell’s appearances but despite a lot of lip service, he’s yet to ditch fur and exotic skins. He can decide in a heartbeat, today, to use his power for good and stop being complicit in cruelty—it’s quite easy to be kind."
PETA often catches flack for the way in which they speak out about animal abuse. This approach usually tends to be loud, shocking and outlandish. They aim to put on a show while commanding people's eyes, ears and attention about the matter at hand. It does seem to work as most people fear PETA and would despise being the brunt of a PETA demonstration.
Mechelle Eleene
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