Pharrell Addresses Backlash Over Recent Comments About Politics and Diversity: ‘I’m Lumpenproletariat’

Pharrell has addressed the recent backlash he’s been getting over comments about politics and diversity he made last month at the 5th annual Black Ambition Demo Day where he said that he hated politics because they force people to pick a side and ultimately create division.

“I hate politics,” he said. “Like, despise them. It’s a magic trick. It’s not real. I don’t believe in either side. Because I think when you pick a side, you are inadvertently supporting division.” He then brought up diversity, equity and inclusion and said you should support businesses not because of skin color, but because they’re the best. “Now diversity is off the table, equity’s off the table, now inclusion’s off the table,” he began. “So, that makes me…I asked myself, ‘Okay, how do we survive?’ Well, are there Black people here tonight? And in your heart, do you think for what it is that you do, do you think you’re the best? Do you want the job because you’re Black or because you’re the best? Do you want someone to support your startup because you’re Black or because you’re the best?”

After receiving the Shoe of the Year award for his Virginia Adistar Jellyfish collab with Adidas at the Footwear News Achievement Awards recently, the Men’s Creative Director for Louis Vuitton decided to dedicate his speech to address to criticism he’s been getting online. “Sound bite this: since most people don’t like to read or do research anymore,” he began. “Sound bite this: God is the greatest. Sound bite this: I’m from Virginia. Sound bite this: You don’t know what I know. 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.”

He then referred to himself as a lumpenproletariat which, in Marxist theory, defines a class of individuals that are apathetic to class consciousness and revolutionary advancement. “Sound bite this: Don’t be fooled by my bourgeois taste and heart. I’m proletariat,” he continued. “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. Sound bite this: we’ve needed empathy for someone to walk in ours shows.”

Adding, “That’s why sound bite this: we created ‘Black Ambition,’ a philanthropic effort to support, resource, and mentor Black and Brown startups. Sound bite this: we have allocated $85 million dollars to Black and Brown startups. Sound bite this: that’s where the soundbite of me saying I hate politics, which was in response to the DEI support and donations drying up because of new policies. 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.”

Pharrell has been outspoken about politics in his own way. Last November, he told The Hollywood Reporter that tends to take a neutral approach and compared his stance to that of a federal employee. “This is what they do, come rain or shine, whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican in office, you show up to work every day, you serve your country,” he said. In the same interview, he also admitted to being annoyed by celebrity endorsements. “I don’t do politics. In fact, I get annoyed sometimes when I see celebrities trying to tell you [who to vote for],” he said. “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.’”