Pharrell Williams has denied dissing Taylor Swift‘s Kamala Harris endorsement.
The rapper and producer addressed his previous comments that he doesn’t “do politics” and gets “annoyed sometimes” by celebrity endorsements. The interview was published just days after Taylor Swift announced her endorsement of Kamala Harris, who eventually lost the US Presidential election to Donald Trump.
In a new interview with GQ, Williams clarified his comments were not directed at Swift, saying: “They pit you against each other. I love Taylor. She knows that.”
Williams went on to say he didn’t even mention the singer in the original interview, adding: “I bought a ‘1989’ Taylor t-shirt online last year, and I was walking around here with it tucked into my jeans. I love her. I love people, bro.
“That was some right-wing troll shit,” he continued. “But I heard something the other day that made the most sense in the world: Right-wing, left-wing, all the same bird.”
In his original interview, Williams explained his reasons why he doesn’t “do politics”, saying: “I don’t do politics. In fact, I get annoyed sometimes when I see celebrities trying to tell you [who to vote for]. There are celebrities that I respect that have an opinion, but not all of them.”
He continued: “I’m one of them people [who says], ‘What the heck? Shut up. Nobody asked you.’ When people get out there and get self-righteous and they roll up their sleeves and shit, and they are out there walking around with a placard: ‘Shut up!’ So, no, I would rather stay out of the way, and obviously, I’m going to vote how I’m going to vote. I care about my people and I care about the country, but I feel there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and I’m really about the action.”
Meanwhile, Swift made a rare public endorsement for Kamala Harris, writing on Instagram: “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.
“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” she continued. “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”
She also addressed Donald Trump’s false claims that Swift supported his candidacy using fake AI images. Trump has claimed he had nothing to do with the images.
“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Swift finally urged fans to do their own research and reminded first-time voters to register.
In other news, Pharrell Williams has released his LEGO biopic, ‘Piece By Piece’, which NME rated four stars. Speaking to NME about the movie, he said the idea came to him after being told by his agent that he could create the biopic “in hiw own way”.
“I was like, ‘I want to do it in Lego’, and [his agent] was like, ‘Come on.’ I was like, ‘Yes, we can! He can always say no.’ We had the talk with Morgan and he said, ‘Actually. That’s a great idea. Let’s go!’”
He continued: “This is an amazing experience of history for me. I can’t tell you how humbled I am to have this masterful storyteller really make sense of my life. It has always been all over the place and made sense to me but not to most. He was able to do it in colour, vividly – brick by brick, piece by piece.”
