While the 2026 Grammys may have seen a myriad of amazing performers and award moments, there’s one person whose appearance and subsequent acceptance speech didn’t land so well with viewers: Pharrell Williams. Let’s break down why.
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If you were tuned into the awards show on Sunday night, then you might have caught Williams going onstage to accept the Dr. Dre Global Impact Awards for his musical contributions and creative endeavors over the years. While his honor may have seemed apropos to many viewers, it was what he said afterward that left a sour taste in people’s mouths.
After thanking the Recording Academy and heaping praise on Dr. Dre, Williams then expressed his gratitude for having a job like this and urged those in the room to “never stop working.”
“I’m so blessed to call this a job, I’ve never stopped loving this job. I’ve never stopped being a student and to everyone here I just gotta tell you: never stop grinding,” he said. “And listen—never stop working. Stop doing anything else but working. Work, man. Because when you—I’m 52, I get to do this everyday. I love what I do and if you do what you love everyday, you’ll get paid for free.”
While those words may have been deemed inspirational at any other economic time in our country, seeing as how over 300,000 Black women were forced out of the workplace, the unemployment rate in the United States is at 4.4 percent, and an immeasurable number of people are living paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet…hearing a multi-millionaire tell you to go to work isn’t exactly the motivational speech folks need to hear.
As you might expect, as the “Happy” singer’s words began to make the rounds on social media, plenty of folks had plenty to say about his tone deaf words.
“This hurts my heart to say, but Pharrell Williams is tone deaf. That speech was so tone deaf. Everybody at the Grammys is talking about the government, ICE and here he is talking about some bullshit,” said one user on X/Twitter.
“pharrell telling people to never stop working is sooo privileged,” said another.
“Pharrell thinks he’s far more profound than he is,” one other user wrote.
Added another, “Any time Pharrell tries to connect with an audience he always fails lol.” (Need we remind you of his “DEI” comments from November 2025 that also sparked backlash??)
Others felt like his speech was offputting because he refused to acknowledge the contributions of his former longtime production partner Chad Hugo, with whom he created The Neptunes with in 1992. Together, the duo produced massive hits for some of today’s hottest artists like Jay-Z, Clipse (Pusha T and Malice), Usher, Brittney Spears, Snoop Dogg and more.
However, as we previously told you, their relationship soured in 2024 after Hugo filed a lawsuit against Williams alleging that he “acted in bad faith” when he filed a trademark for The Neptunes name without him. In January 2026, he also sued Williams over allegations that he was keeping royalties from him. According to the suit, Williams owes Hugo up to $1 million from the sales of their 2017 N.E.R.D album, “No One Ever Really Dies,” claiming he hasn’t seen a penny since 2023.
Given their rocky relationship right now, Grammy viewers were also quick to point Williams’ obvious omission of Hugo for the part he played in his success.
“I cannot take Pharrell getting all these accolades seriously when he just got sued by his longtime production partner,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
Another user echoed similar sentiments, writing: “Pharrell has produced amazing stuff BUT don’t get it twisted, he owes a lot of his success to Chad Hugo and Chad deserves all the awards and recognition Pharrell gets. Don’t forget Chad’s name.”
However, there were a few people that saw some good in what Williams had to say with one person saying in his defense on Threads, “I get why people are annoyed but I took it as Pharrell telling creatives to never stop workingat/towards their goals and dreams but maybe that’s just me.”
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