Pharrell’s Movie Premiere Disrupted By PETA Over Louis Vuitton Animal Cruelty Claims

Pharrell’s Movie Premiere Disrupted By PETA Over Louis Vuitton Animal Cruelty Claims

PETA stormed Pharrell’s premiere to protest his role with Louis Vuitton.

At the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday, September 10, a PETA protester made a dramatic entrance during the premiere of Pharrell Williams’ Lego biopic Piece by Piece, targeting the artist over his involvement with Louis Vuitton.

As the post-screening Q&A was about to begin, the activist took the stage with a sign reading,

“Pharrell: Stop Supporting Killing Animals for Fashion.”

They shouted accusations about animal cruelty linked to Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton collection, claiming,

“Pharrell’s collection is made from their blood. Ostriches are being hung upside down, electrocuted with their necks slit!”

Pharrell addressed the disruption calmly, stating,

“You’re right, you’re right, god bless you, it’s okay.”

The 51-year-old men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton even encouraged the audience to applaud the protester.

As the activist was escorted out, Pharrell continued,

“Rome wasn’t made in a day. And sometimes, when you have plans to change things and situations, you have to get in a situation of power and of influence where you can change people’s minds and help progression.”

He added,

“That is not necessarily the way to do it, and sitting in my position, when I have conversations on behalf of organizations like that unbeknownst to them, they come out here and do themselves a disservice. But that’s okay, when that change comes, everybody in this room will remember that I told you, we are actually working on that. And if she would’ve just asked me, I would’ve told her. But instead, she wanted to repeat herself.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by PETA (@peta)

PETA shared a video of the protest on Instagram, stating,

“We CRASHED Pharrell’s ‘Piece by Piece’ premiere at TIFF to remind the Louis Vuitton men’s creative director that animals suffer for fur & wildlife skins. Do the right thing and switch to faux & vegan alternatives NOW!”

In response to the incident, PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman issued a statement to the media, saying,

“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. Pharrell 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.”

Did the protester take the right approach? Share your thoughts below!

[VIA]