PETA France Calls for Pharrell to Be Stripped of His Legion of Honor

For Immediate Release:
August 18, 2025

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

PETA France is calling for Pharrell Williams’ Legion of Honor to be revoked in a letter sent today to General Lecointre, insisting the Creative Director of Louis Vuitton is profiting off the immense suffering of animals—even though he admitted to a PETA protestor who crashed his biopic’s premiere last year that they were “right.” Yet, months later, he showed fur and wild animal skins at Paris Fashion Week and again in June at the brand’s menswear spring 2026 show.

“Williams is fully aware of the brand’s cruel legacy [which includes] animals being bludgeoned, skinned alive, and confined in concrete pits and wire cages,” writes PETA’s Vice President for Europe Mimi Bekhechi. “A title that celebrates honor should not be bestowed upon someone who prioritizes image over integrity […] We urge you to reconsider this award.”

Minks purr when they’re happy, young ostriches stay with their parents for up to three years, and crocodiles are doting mothers who diligently protect their eggs from predators. A PETA Asia investigation into slaughterhouses in Indonesia that supply LVMH shows snakes being inflated with water, bashed with hammers, and cut with razors while they were likely still conscious. PETA entities have also documented how workers in the fashion industry hack at crocodiles’ necks and shove metal rods down their spines, chop off conscious lizards’ heads with machetes, and electrically stun ostriches before slitting their throats in full view of their terrified flockmates. Animals raised and killed for fur are confined to tiny, filthy cages before they’re electrocuted, bludgeoned, gassed, or even skinned alive.

PETA notes that other major fashion designers such as Balenciaga, Victoria Beckham, Chanel, Burberry, Diane von Furstenberg, and Vivienne Westwood have abandoned the use of reptile or other wild animal skins, while virtually all major luxury fashion houses have stopped using fur.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.