Pharrell Williams used his moment at the 2025 Footwear News Achievement Awards to speak directly to the conversation around him. While accepting the Shoe of the Year award for the Virginia Adistar Jellyfish, he addressed the reaction to his recent comments about politics and diversity. He made his intentions clear. 

“Sound bite this. Since most people don’t like to read or do research anymore, sound bite this,” he said. “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.”

Pharrell revisited his early years and the instability that shaped his perspective. 

“I’m from the mud. As a child, nobody’s been evicted more times than me. Lights turned off, water turned off, and at times, had to pump the water.” 

He remembered wanting name-brand sneakers and shared that he didn’t get his first pair, Adidas low-top Instincts, until he earned his McDonald’s paycheck at 16.

He then connected that upbringing to the work he champions today. 

“I’m proletariat,” he said. “In fact, I’m lumpenproletariat. 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.”

That focus fuels his work with the Black Ambition Prize, which has awarded $85 million to Black and brown founders. He explained that his earlier remarks about politics came out of frustration as DEI support began shrinking. 

“So yes, I got frustrated, and the sound biters, they caught me lacking. But sound bite this... I will never stop fighting. I will never stop raising money to help level the playing field. Never.”

His speech followed comments he made at Black Ambition Demo Day, where he said, “I hate politics. Like, despise them.” He later clarified through a conversation with Van Lathan that he was speaking about right-versus-left battles and how those fights overlook real people.