Animal rights group PETA boycotted the premiere of Pharrell's autobiographical film “Piece by Piece” at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday in protest of his work as Louis Vuitton's menswear creative director.
A PETA protester rushed onto the stage as the post-show Q&A was about to begin, holding a sign that read, “Pharrell: Stop Supporting the Killing of Animals for Fashion.”
“Your Louis Vuitton collection… Pharrell’s collection is made with their blood,” protesters shouted. “Pharrell stop torturing animals! Ostriches are hung upside down, electrocuted and then their throats cut!”
Pharrell responded to the heckler by saying, “You're right, you're right, God bless you, it's okay,” before encouraging the crowd to applaud the protester. The protester continued to shout, “Pharrell stop torturing animals,” as she was escorted off stage.
After the protester was removed, Farrell spoke directly about her objections, telling the crowd: “Rome wasn’t made in a day. And sometimes, when you have plans to change things and situations, you have to be in a position of power and influence where you can change people’s minds and help progress.”
“That’s not necessarily the right way to do it,” he continued, “and sitting in my position, when I’m doing talks on behalf of organizations like this without their knowledge, they come here and hurt themselves. But that’s okay, when that change comes, everyone in this room will remember that I told you, we’re already working on it. And if she had just asked me, I would have told her. But instead, she wanted to repeat herself.”
PETA posted a video of the protest on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “We're broken, Pharrell.” [‘Piece by Piece’] Premiere at [TIFF] “To remind the Louis Vuitton Men’s Creative Director that animals suffer for wild fur and leather. Do the right thing and switch to synthetic and vegan alternatives now!”
