Video: Is Pharrell a Hypocrite or Heartfelt? PETA’s TIFF Disruption Elicits Response About Louis Vuitton Animal Use

For Immediate Release:
September 10, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Moments ago, a PETA supporter disrupted the screening of Pharrell Williams’ LEGO-animated biopic, Piece by Piece, at the Toronto International Film Festival and blasted the Louis Vuitton men’s creative director for his disgraceful use of wild-animal skins and fur. Bearing a sign proclaiming, “Pharrell: Stop Killing Animals for Fashion,” the animal defender brought the Q&A to a screeching halt, shouting “Stop torturing animals!”—and the star responds saying, “I know,” “You’re right,” and later, “I’m working on it”—something he’s said before.

Video footage is available here.

“We would be happy to stop disrupting Pharrell’s appearances but despite a lot of lip service, he’s yet to ditch fur and exotic skins,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Pharrell can decide in a heartbeat, today, to use his power for good and stop being complicit in cruelty—it’s quite easy to be kind.”

A PETA Asia investigation into slaughterhouses in Indonesia that supply Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH, shows snakes being inflated with water, bashed with hammers, and cut with razors while 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—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.