As protests continued across America for a second night following the ruling of a grand jury on the killing of Michael Brown (they're not prosecuting the police officer who shot him multiple times),Pharrell Williams has well and truly put his foot in it.
The singer/producer totally denounced the grand jury's ruling, saying that Darren Wilson, the police officer, should be punished for killing Michael Brown: 'I believe that Ferguson officer should be punished and serve time. He used excessive force on a human being who was merely a child. He was a baby, man.'
He also told Ebony that Barack Obama should have gone to Ferguson, where the killing and ensuing protests happened, to make a statement on the death of the 18-year-old: 'I felt like the president should have gone down there.'
That sounds pretty legit to us. But basically the rest of what he said was beyond offkey, which he probably knew when he said it could get him 'in trouble'. First of all, reports Mediaite, he said that in video footage of Michael allegedly robbing some cigars from a shop before his shooting, he 'looked very bully-ish' (Michael's family have questioned whether the video is really of Michael, plus, Wilson never saw the footage before he shot Michael.)
He continued: 'That in itself I had a problem with. Not with the kid, but with whatever happened in his life for him to arrive at a place where that behaviour is OK. Why aren’t we talking about that?'
Well, the reason why people might not be talking about that, is because the big story here is that a white cop shot an unarmed black teenager. Being a bully doesn't come into it, because that's not the behaviour that most urgently needs to be changed. According to the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement,a black person is killed by police or similar authorities every 28 hours in America.
The thing is, Pharrell has said something pretty ridiculous right now. But even he thinks that Darren Wilson should have served time. Since Michael Brown's death in August, Wilson has got married and been donated $430,000 by well-wishers. Seriously.
**Liked this? You might also be interested in: **
People: Pharrell Commends Women For Going To Work On Their Periods
People: Pharrell's new video may as well be called blurred lines but with a few clothes
People: The #Iftheygunnedmedown Hashtag Proves Racism Exists Long After Someone Has Died
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.