Renown producer Pharrell Williams said in a new interview that he is “annoyed” by famous endorsements in the wake of celebrities taking a stance on the election.
The former N.E.R.D member sat down with the The Hollywood Reporter, and was asked about his thoughts on the upcoming election.
Williams emphasized that he doesn’t do politics and elaborated on his humanitarian efforts in education.
“I don’t do politics. In fact, I get annoyed sometimes when I see celebrities trying to tell you [who to vote for],” Williams said in the interview.
“There are celebrities that I respect that have an opinion, but not all of them. I’m one of them people [who says], ‘What the heck? Shut up. Nobody asked you,’” he added.
From advocacy to music education and philanthropy, Williams has always used his star power to enact social change. The singer mentioned that he would rather stay behind the scenes and make quieter moves.
“When people get out there and get self-righteous and they roll up their sleeves and s—, and they are out there walking around with a placard: ‘Shut up!’ So, no, I would rather stay out of the way, and obviously, I’m going to vote how I’m going to vote. I care about my people and I care about the country, but I feel there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and I’m really about the action.”
Williams highlighted that the one policy that he does care about his education. In 2020, the 51-year-old launched YELLOW, an organization that is focused on “evening the odds” for every student to have access to a first rate education.
“We have a nonprofit called YELLOW [whose mission is equity through education], and then there’s another 501(c)(3) that helps Black and Brown entrepreneurs called Black Ambition — those are the things I lean into.”
Black Ambition is dedicated to supporting Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs. Earlier this year, Williams noted to Variety the positive outputs for the entrepreneurs who have participated in the program. “Our Black Ambition entrepreneurs have raised more than $95 million and generated more than $23 million in revenue.”