Pharrell Williams has something to say to social media critics, or as he likes to call them, “sound biters.” While accepting the Shoe of the Year award at the 2025 Footwear News Achievement Awards, Williams took a moment to address the backlash he received for expressing his disdain for politics.
“Sound bite this. Since most people don’t like to read or do research anymore, sound bite this,” he said, per WWD. “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.”
Reflecting on his childhood, the multi-hyphenate explained that he’s “from the mud,” where he experienced evictions, lights and water being turned off, and not having name-brand sneakers. He goes on to declare himself a “proletariat” (a term used to refer to the working class) and a “lumpenproletariat,” a Marxist terminology used to describe the lowest social class.
“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 continued.
Williams’ anaphoric speech stems from the backlash he received last month at his non-profit Black Ambition’s Demo Day, during which he admitted he “despises” politics.
“It is a magic trick, and it’s not real. I don’t believe in either side. So I think when you pick a side, you are inadvertently supporting division,” he said at the time, also reflecting on the rollback of DEI. “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? Do you want someone to support your startup because you’re Black or because you’re the best?”
Though Williams previously spoke with Van Lathan, who attempted to clarify his intention behind his comments, the star directly admitted that those comments came out of frustration for the “lack of DEI support, and donations drying up because of new policies.”
“I got frustrated, and the sound biters, they caught me lacking,” he explained. “But sound bite this: I will never stop fighting. I will never stop raising money to help level the playing field. Never.”
