Pharrell Williams opened up about his comments about hating politics.
Accepting the Shoe of the Year award at the 2025 Footwear News Achievement Awards, Phareell made sure to explain what he believes.
“Sound bite this. Since most people don’t like to read or do research anymore, sound bite this,” Pharrell said. “God is the greatest. Sound bite this. I’m from Virginia. Sound bite this. You don’t know what I know and you ain’t seen what I saw. No, you ain’t been where I go. I’m from the mud. As a child, nobody’s been evicted more times than me. Lights turned off, water turned off, and at times, had to pump the water.”
Pharrell recalled that he didn’t have the money to buy the Adidas low-top Instincts—until he was 16. That’s when he got his first paycheck from McDonald’s.
“I’m proletariat,” he went on. “In fact, I’m lumpenproletariat. Sound bite this. I had to stay on my feet. Sound bite this. But I could never walk in the shoes of my parents, parents, parents, etc. All they had to endure while staying on their feet. Or my ancestors, who arrived as captives, enslaved, who had no shoes yet had to stay on their feet as they landed on the shores of Virginia. As Black and Brown people on this earth, we have to stay on our feet. We have never had a choice.”
Pharrell then spoke about his past comments about politics.
“That’s where the soundbite of me saying I hate politics [came from]. Which was in response to the DEI support and donations drying up because of new policies,” Pharrell said. “So yes, I got frustrated, and the sound biters they caught me lacking. But sound bite this… I will never stop fighting. I will never stop raising money to help level the playing field. Never.”
In November, Pharrell said that he doesn’t get down with politics at the fifth annual Black Ambition Demo Day in Miami.
“As we look at what’s going on in the current political climate — I’m just saying, and I don’t wanna turn anybody off — but I hate politics, like despise them.”
“Now that diversity is off the table, now that equity is off the table, now inclusion is off the table…that makes me ask myself, so how do we survive?”, he asked.