Pharrell Williams Responds After Q&A Session at TIFF Interrupted by Animal Rights Protestor

Pharrell told the protester, "You're right," and encouraged the crowd to give a round of applause and say "God bless you."

After the protestor was removed, he said, "You know, Rome wasn't made in a day, and sometimes when you have plans to change things and situations, you have to get in a position of power and of influence where you can change people's minds and help progression."

With a nod to where the protestor had been taken, he added, "That is not necessarily the way to do it."

He continued, "Sitting in my position, when I have conversations on behalf of organizations like that, unbeknownst to them [protestors], they come out here and do themselves a disservice. But that's okay. When that change comes, everybody in this room will remember that I told you we're actually working on that, and if she would have just asked me, I would have told her, but instead she wanted to repeat herself."

In a statement to Variety, PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said, "We would be happy to stop disrupting Pharrell's appearances but despite a lot of lip service, he's yet to ditch fur and exotic skins. 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."

It's the second notable protest of the day at TIFF, as the film Russians at War was picketed by supporters of Ukraine.