While accepting the Shoe of the Year award at the 2025 Footwear News Achievement Awards on Wednesday (Dec. 3), Pharrell Williams responded to the backlash surrounding his recent political and diversity-related comments.
“Sound bite this. Since most people don’t like to read or do research anymore, sound bite this,” Pharrell began. “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 shared that he couldn’t afford his first pair of name-brand sneakers—Adidas low-top Instincts—until he earned his first paycheck from McDonald’s at 16.
“I’m proletariat,” he said. “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.”
He emphasized the need to level the playing field, a mission he’s long championed through the Black Ambition Prize—an initiative that has already provided $85 million in funding to Black and Brown-led startups.
“That’s where the soundbite of me saying I hate politics came from, which was in response to 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.”
Pharrell delivered his remarks as he accepted the Shoe of the Year award for the Virginia Adistar Jellyfish, presented to him by longtime collaborator Pusha T.
Just last month, Pharrell sparked debate with comments about the current political climate during the 5th annual Black Ambition Demo Day.
“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. … Yes, it’s not a popular point of view, but I just gotta say, when I think about it, the wells are drying up.”
In that same conversation, he also shared his perspective on supporting businesses based on identity.
“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?” he asked the Black entrepreneurs in the room. “Do you want someone to support your startup because you’re Black or because you’re the best?”
He later clarified his stance to Van Lathan, who explained that Pharrell’s comments about DEI and politics were pulled out of context.
Lathan noted that Pharrell was speaking about the broader divide between right and left politics, and how that constant tug-of-war often leaves real people and real issues behind. According to Lathan, Pharrell told him he wants no part in “a fight for political power,” but is instead focused on “empowering people to go out and live their dreams and execute the things that they are talented in.”
