Pharrell Williams‘ London screening of Piece By Piece was disrupted tonight (October 20) by a group of animal rights protesters.
The incident took place during the closing night gala of the capital’s Film Festival at the Royal Festival Hall ahead of the screening of the biopic, when the protesters – representing animal rights activist group PETA – unfurled a banner that read: “Pharrell: Stop Supporting Killing Animals For Fashion” – referring to his role as the men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton.
“Shame on you, Pharrell. Animals are skinned alive and tortured,” one protester shouted from the balcony of the concert hall.
The protesters specifically called out Williams’ work as Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director, saying: “Stop the torture, stop the pain, LVMH you are to blame.” They also chanted, “Animals want to live – just like us” and “Animals are not fabrics, they’re not handbags…Fashion is violence.”
Williams, who was battling laryngitis, responded in a hushed voice: “God bless you. Rome wasn’t built in a day and the changes that they see, they don’t happen overnight.
It takes a lot of planning and we are working out those things. They wanted to be heard so we heard them.
