Animal rights activists disrupted a film screening by pop mogul Pharrell Williams as they shouted ‘stop the pain’ and suggested the creative director was complicit in the ‘skinning of animals’.
In the bizarre spectacle, which took place during the closing night gala of the London Film Festival and the Royal Festival Hall, two male activists vented their rage from the balcony, representing the animal rights group PETA.
They unfurled a banner that read, ‘Pharrell: Stop Supporting Killing Animals for Fashion.’
The criticism came over Williams’ work as Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director as the activists expressed their distaste over the way animals are killed for the company’s fashion pieces with one alleging they are ‘skinned alive and tortured’.
Responding calmly to the ordeal after the protesters had been escorted out by security, Pharrell, who is currently suffering from laryngitis, said: ‘We are all animals at the end of the day.
Moment Pharrell Williams’ ‘Piece by Piece’ London Film Festival screening is disrupted by animal rights protesters
‘God bless you. Rome wasn’t built in a day. And the changes that they seek don’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of planning. We are working on those things.’
Just last month, a PETA protester rushed to the stage at the ‘Piece by Piece’ premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
They shouted: ‘Your Louis Vuitton collection…Pharrell’s collection is made from their blood.
‘Pharrell stop torturing animals! Ostriches are being hung upside down, electrocuted with their necks slit!’
Responding to her, the singer said: ‘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.
The criticism came over Williams’ work as Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director as they vented their fury over the way animals are killed for the company’s fashion pieces with one alleging animals are ‘skinned alive and tortured’
‘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 OK, 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.’
In 2020, Louis Vuitton explained that 10 per cent of the animals used for the company’s products are ‘humanely farmed’.
PETA responded saying that the exotic skins industry could ‘never be considered humane’.
