Pharrell Got DEI Wrong — Here’s the Part Everyone Keeps Missing

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Music mogul Pharrell Williams is facing backlash over statements the musician recently made on a panel. At an event to kick off the 5^th Annual Black Ambition Demo Day in Miami, Williams expressed his disdain for politics, stating how he thinks it can cause division and shared his views on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Regarding politics, Williams stated, “Like, despise them. It’s a magic trick. It’s not real. I don’t believe in either side. Because I think when you pick a side, you are inadvertently supporting division. Yes, it’s not a popular point of view, but I gotta say, when I think about it, the wells are drying up.” Regarding DEI, Williams stated, “Do you want someone to support your startup because you’re Black or because you’re the best? So I think now for me, it’s about us having the best ambition, and that’s the reason why you should support these businesses. Yes, they happen to be Black and brown, but it should be based on the thesis that they’re the best, not because of a shade of skin color.” Williams’ team did not respond to a request for comment.

Williams’ statements lean into a common narrative pushed by DEI critics that DEI focuses too much on Black people and that it can lead to the hiring of unqualified and unskilled Black candidates. What DEI was originally created to do was address discrimination in order to allow people from historically excluded populations to have access to the same opportunities that have been denied to them for centuries. DEI seeks to address the varying levels of historic harm and marginalization that still exists across industries and fields today. Leveling the playing field by providing opportunities for talented individuals from communities that have been systematically excluded is what DEI was designed to do. Despite several programs and policies that were designed to address these systemic inequities within organizations and institutions, workplaces still struggle to hire, retain and support employees from underrepresented populations.

The statements seemed contradictory because Williams is the creator of a non-profit initiative, Black Ambition, that is focused on “working to close the opportunity and wealth gap through entrepreneurship.” Addressing the opportunity and wealth gap requires acknowledging structural and systemic inequities in the U.S. that were designed to exclude, marginalize and subjugate different populations. In a viral Substack essay, writer and cultural critic Louis Pisano wrote about the irony of Williams’ statements, calling him “the most expensive diversity, equity, and inclusion hire in the history of European luxury fashion.” Pisano was referring to Williams’ partnership with global fashion house Louis Vuitton—in 2023, the company announced that Williams would be its new Men’s Creative Director and Williams’ debuted his menswear collection that same year at Paris Fashion Week.

To be clear, Williams is well within his rights to question whether DEI has been effective and to push back on whether DEI, in its current iteration, can liberate marginalized people; the problem is when someone of Williams’ status repeats misguided talking points that have been weaponized to thwart equity efforts. It could be argued that it’s easier for individuals in positions of power and privilege, like Williams, to repudiate DEI without providing sufficient strategies or solutions that address why DEI was needed in the first place. When it comes to how to address inequities in the Black community, many have suggested business ownership as a vehicle for Black liberation. It is important for us to recognize that we cannot entrepreneurship our way out of systemic racism; we must acknowledge the limits of the Black excellence mantra and how it is not a panacea for Black harm.

The controversy is an example of a common phenomenon where celebrities, who lack understanding or knowledge about a specific topic, are given a megaphone and end up regurgitating inaccurate and problematic talking points. A similar example occurred in 2024, when radio host Charlamagne tha God appeared as a guest on The Daily Show, where he talked about DEI and its failings, and went on to say that it’s “mostly garbage.” Revolutionary activist Malcolm X warned us about the problems and pitfalls with propping up and pedestalizing Black celebrities. Black celebrities are often positioned as leaders in the Black community but because of fame, wealth, notoriety and access, they are far removed from the very same communities they try to speak on behalf of. Race or ethnicity should not be the only qualifiers to speak on DEI—those who have knowledge and expertise on the subject and are most directly impacted by the removal of DEI policies should be platformed and centered in these conversations.Celebrities and those of a similar ilk with a vast amount of wealth and privilege are often insulated from the very issues that DEI seeks to address—they have a level of access and money that shields them from societal harms. Those closest to an issue should always be the ones platformed and centered. More often than not, Black celebrities, public figures and those in positions of power, have not fully reckoned with their own internalized oppression or reflected on the ways they contribute to systems of harm. Williams’ statements echo a popular myth that is frequently disseminated by the DEI opposition.

This is not to say that DEI, as a field and as an industry, is without its faults and should not be admonished. DEI has had many failings, and these should be acknowledged and addressed often. This is also not an argument against bad faith actors who infiltrated the DEI space when DEI was at its height and corporate interest had risen. Two things can be true though: DEI is not a perfect system and many corporations that have attempted to implement DEI programs and initiatives have not created policies and practices that fully address workplace inequities. But also, many of the anti-DEI talking points are not backed by data.In a time when anti-intellectualism seems to be rising, it is imperative that we take every opportunity to dispel myths and misinformation, especially when they allow harm to persist. There should be growing concern around platforming individuals who lack a deep understanding of the issues they are speaking to; celebrities are not experts on DEI and should not be treated as such. When you repeat something enough times, people start to believe it so we must use every opportunity we have to stop the spread of falsities and propaganda. Every time we fail to call out destructive rhetoric, we are contributing to a larger system of harm that impacts us all.

This article was originally published in Forbes on November 24, 2025.