Pharrell Williams Slams Reports That He Dissed Taylor Swift’s Kamala Harris Endorsement: ‘That Was Some Right-Wing Troll S—‘

Pharrell Williams has pushed back on accusations that he was targeting Taylor Swift when he came out against celebrity political endorsements in September, saying that attempts to pit him against the pop superstar were “some right-wing troll shit.”

Williams addresses the controversy in a new GQ cover story that names him the magazine’s Designer of the Year. The interviewer asks him about a previous cover story he did, with the Hollywood Reporter, in which the artist-producer talked about taking a publicly apolitical stance, and slammed other celebrities who do endorse political candidates — without naming names.

When the profiler mentions that headlines in September “became that you dissed Taylor,” Williams responds, “Because that’s what they do. They pit you against each other. I love Taylor. She knows that. … In fact, 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.”

In fact, Williams almost certainly could not have had Swift in mind when he made his statements to the Hollywood Reporter, because they were in an interview for a cover story that came out Sept. 12, the day after Swift issued her endorsement of Kamala Harris for president. Print editions generally go to press before cover stories appear online, with interviews for those stories typically happening weeks earlier.

That didn’t stop some media outlets at the time from breathlessly reprinting Swifties’ charges that Williams was going directly after Swift, without noting the publication schedules that would have made that close to impossible. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Williams had Swift in mind when he made his anti-endorsement statement — but if so, he would have been thinking of earlier instances, such as Swift’s endorsement of Joe Biden in 2020.

In the THR story from September, Williams raised some hackles by saying, “”I don’t do politics. In fact, I get annoyed sometimes when I see celebrities trying to tell you [who to vote for]. … 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!”

Publications like the Standard disregarded the unlikeliness of these quotes having been inserted into the Williams interview at the last moment, quoting angry Swift fans who tweeted messages like, “Pharrell is blatantly referring to Taylor – look at the timing. No other celeb’s endorsement has had her impact,” and “I’m disappointed in Pharel (sic) as he calls out Taylor for no reason. Why shouldn’t she say who she’s endorsing like the rest of us can. She’s a human being.”

In his fresh GQ interview, although he’s un-“Happy” about being called out by Swifties and some media outlets for his comments, Williams sounded unrelenting on his stand against taking a stand on politics, and engaged in some both-sides-ism.

“I heard something the other day that made the most sense in the world: Right-wing, left-wing, all the same bird,” Williams told the magazine, which describes him as “resisting the binary.” Although he does note he has strong feelings about immigration policy, Williams further downplays differences that would cause him to take a stand, noting that “I say to certain questions, like, Man, don’t ask me, because I’m a celebrity, what I think about this or what I think about that. I’m of no authority. Don’t ask me.”