Pharrell Williams’ ‘Piece by Piece’ London Film Festival Screening Disrupted by Animal Rights Protesters
variety.comPharrell Williams‘ animated biopic “Piece by Piece” was disrupted by animal rights protesters on Sunday. The incident took place during the closing night gala of the London Film Festival at the Royal Festival Hall.
Before the screening began, two protesters — representing animal rights activist group PETA — unfurled a banner that read, “Pharrell: Stop Supporting Killing Animals for Fashion.” “Shame on you, Pharrell.
Animals are skinned alive and tortured,” one protester shouted from the balcony of the concert hall. The protesters specifically called out Williams’ work as Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director, chanting: “Stop the torture, stop the pain, LVMH you are to blame.” (LVMH is the French multinational holding company that owns Louis Vuitton.) For at least a minute and a half — before eventually being removed — the protestors also chanted “Animals want to live — just like us” and shouted “Animals are not fabrics, they’re not handbags…Fashion is violence.” Williams, who is battling laryngitis, responded in a hushed voice: “God bless you.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. And the changes that they seek don’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of planning. We are working on those things.” His voice failing, he added in a whisper: “They wanted to be heard so we heard them.” Security eventually asked the protesters to leave and then escorted the protesters out of the auditorium, according to a representative for the British Film Institute. “We feel it was managed well and any attempt to remove them earlier would have exacerbated the problem,” the rep told Variety.
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