PETA protesters interrupt Pharrell's LEGO biopic premiere at Toronto International Film Festival

Another event at the Toronto Film Festival was disrupted by protest on Tuesday evening. The LEGO Pharrell biopic Piece By Piece premiere was interrupted by an activist from PETA, who was there to confront the singer in regards to his position as Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director. Per Variety, the protester rushed the stage as the post-screening Q&A was about to begin, holding a sign that said “Pharrell: Stop Supporting Killing Animals for Fashion.”

“Your Louis Vuitton collection…Pharrell’s collection is made from their blood,” the protester shouted (via Variety). “Pharrell stop torturing animals! Ostriches are being hung upside down, electrocuted with their necks slit!” For his part, Pharrell responded saying, “You’re right” and “It’s okay,” and even encouraged the audience to applaud the protester as they were escorted out, still shouting about Pharrell’s torture of animals. 

Afterwards, Pharrell addressed the situation by claiming it is important to reach positions “of power and of influence” in order to “change people’s minds.” He suggested the protester handled the situation badly because he’d already had conversations “on behalf of organizations like that unbeknownst to them.” He said, “When that change comes, everybody in this room will remember that I told you, we are actually working on that.” 

However, PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman called Pharrell’s response “lip service” in a statement to Variety, saying “he’s yet to ditch fur and exotic skins.” The organization is demanding Louis Vuitton switch to “faux and vegan alternatives” immediately. “Pharrell can decide in a heartbeat, today, to use his power for good and stop being complicit in cruelty—it’s quite easy to be kind,” Reiman said. 

There have been a few protests so far throughout TIFF’s run (which began on September 5 and concludes September 15). Also on Tuesday, hundreds of Ukrainian-Canadians gathered to protest the documentary Russians At War by Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova, with many decrying the film as “Russian propaganda.” (Trofimova denied this, calling her movie “an antiwar film” and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “unjustified,” per Reuters.) And on the first night of the festival, pro-Palestine demonstrators crashed one of the opening screenings to protest TIFF’s partnership with Royal Bank of Canada. According to Variety, the protesters were booed as they chanted “RBC funds genocide” to highlight the bank’s ties to Israel amid the ongoing siege on Gaza.