Pharrell Williams had a surprisingly big response when an unidentified woman broke up his panel at the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday, Sept. 11 in the name of PETA .
In a video uploaded to TikTok by iHeartRadio Canada, she was seen dodging others on stage as she carried a sign that had his name emblazoned in red across the top, followed by, “Stop Supporting Killing Animals for Fashion,” with the PETA symbol at the bottom.
He paused the talkback following a screening of his new LEGO-animated documentary Piece by Piece to address her.
Instead of leaving the breach to security to deal with, or telling the woman off over the time and place, Williams crouched down at the edge of the stage, telling her, now standing on the floor below him, "You're right," even as she continued to yell over him.
Some members of the audience applauded his response, leading him to encourage the whole room to give her a round of applause.
“Yes, I have. I have, you’re right,” the "Happy" singer, who doubles as the Men's Creative Director of Louis Vuitton, continued.
As security finally got ahold of her, she continued to chant, "Pharrell stop torturing animals." When someone else tried to get the panel back on track, he refused until he addressed the protestor's claims, telling the audience, “You know, Rome wasn’t made in a day, and sometimes, when you have plans to change things and situations, you have to get in a position of power and of influence where you can change people’s minds and help progression.”
“That is not necessarily the way to do it," he continued. "And sitting in my position, when I have conversations on behalf of organizations like [PETA], unbeknownst to them, they come out here and do themselves a disservice.”
He concluded, “That’s okay. When that change comes, everybody in this room will remember that I told you we are actually working on that. And if she would’ve just asked me, I would’ve told her. But instead, she wanted to repeat herself.”
PETA responded in a statement on its website , questioning why it's taken him so long to get the job done. “You made this same comment in Paris in July at your Olympics kick-off party," the organization wrote. "It doesn’t take ‘work’ to make a decision to stop doing something that most designers have already stopped doing. You have the power to make an important change now , and if you don’t, you should take it somewhere where you can.”
Next: Alicia Silverstone Under Fire Over PETA Campaign: 'Didn't Think the Message Through'
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