Pharrell Williams premiere in London disrupted by animal rights protesters

The premiere of a brand new movie about Pharrell Williams was briefly disrupted by animal rights protesters on the London Film Festival on Sunday.

A screening of Piece By Piece, a biopic of the musician informed utilizing Lego, closed the pageant, however was delayed after campaigners shouted and hung banners over the balcony in the Royal Festival Hall.

They shouted “stop the torture, stop the pain”, in reference to the usage of animal skins and fur by vogue home Louis Vuitton, the place Williams serves as males’s inventive director.

The singer and producer, who was on stage on the time, remained calm and applauded the activists, telling them: “God bless you.”

Addressing the remainder of the viewers because the protesters had been being eliminated, he added: “The changes they seek don’t happen overnight, it takes a lot of planning, and we are working on those things.

“But they need to be heard, so we heard them.”

Williams has been creative director of the Louis Vuitton men’s collection since February 2023.

BBC News has asked Louis Vuitton for comment.

This is the second major screening of the singer’s biopic to be disrupted, after animal rights groups also targeted the movie’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last month.

After the London screening, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) claimed responsibility.

They said: “We are calling him out for utilizing wild-animal skins and fur in his Louis Vuitton designs. It’s time for him to cease supporting cruelty!”

At the earlier screening in Toronto, a lady ran on stage and shouted: “Pharrell, cease supporting killing animals for vogue.”

The singer replied: “You know what? You’re proper. God bless you. It’s OK. Everybody give her a spherical of applause please.”

Once she was removed, Williams told the audience: “You know, Rome wasn’t made in a day and generally when you could have plans to alter issues and conditions, it’s a must to get in a place of energy and affect the place you may change folks’s minds and assist development.”

Williams is known for hits such as Happy and for being one half of production duo the Neptunes, who worked on some of the biggest hits of the last two decades.

Piece by Piece, directed by Morgan Neville, uses Lego bricks to depict Williams’s early life in Virginia through to his rise to fame.

The movie, launched in the UK subsequent month, has obtained typically optimistic evaluations from critics, with many praising the “creative” tackle the normal biopic.