--- title: Pharrell Williams Feminism: Singer Admits He's a Feminist After All description: The 'Blurred Lines' singer originally claimed it "wasn't possible" for him to be a feminist canonical: https://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-19T17:42:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:22.750Z og:title: Pharrell Williams Says He's a Feminist After All og:description: The singer originally claimed it "wasn't possible" og:url: https://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe4ad5ebf7e3c5a6/69876993cd1bba828f6f39ce/459222510.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: US-ENTERTAINMENT-A VERY GRAMMY CHRISTMAS-SHOW og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pharrell Williams Says He's a Feminist After All twitter:description: The singer originally claimed it "wasn't possible" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe4ad5ebf7e3c5a6/69876993cd1bba828f6f39ce/459222510.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pharrell Williams Says He's a Feminist After All > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com [Watch (HLS stream): Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iV2O2CTU.m3u8) (2:35)  _Published 2014-10-22. Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com_  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 19, 2014 5:42 PM UTC  Singer Pharrell Williams performs at the taping of "A Very Grammy Christmas" at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on November 18, 2014. Singer Pharrell Williams performs at the taping of "A Very Grammy Christmas" at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on November 18, 2014. Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Nov 19, 2014 5:42 PM UTC After [rejecting the label](http://time.com/139624/pharrell-says-its-not-possible-for-him-to-be-a-feminist/) earlier this year, Pharrell Williams has come around on the term “feminist.” In an interview in May, the “Blurred Lines” singer and songwriter said: “I’ve been asked, am I a feminist? I don’t think it’s possible for me to be that… I’m a man. It makes sense up until a certain point. But what I do is — I do support feminists. I do think there’s injustices. There are inequalities that need to be addressed.” Several bloggers and journalists pointed out after the interview that men can, in fact, be feminists if they believe in political, economic and social equality between the sexes. So when asked at a [BuzzFeed event](http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwieselman/pharrell-williams-addresses-blurred-lines-controversy) this week if he considers himself a feminist, Pharrell had a revised answer: “If I’m allowed to be. If feminism is a synonym for equality, then, yeah, sure.” Perhaps male celebrities like [Joseph Gordon-Levitt](http://time.com/3426757/watch-joseph-gordon-levitt-explain-why-hes-a-feminist-in-a-truly-thoughtful-way/), [Benedict Cumberbatch](http://time.com/3546712/benedict-cumberbatch-feminist-tshirt/) and [Aziz Ansari](http://time.com/3478159/aziz-ansari-feminism-jay-z-beyonce/) speaking out about their feminism changed Pharrell’s mind. He also defended “Blurred Lines” lyrics that drew criticism from some who said the song was sexist and predatory. “If you sing the lyrics to yourself, the guy gets nowhere,” he said. “And when you think about lines like, ‘I know you want it,’ a lot of ladies \[said\] that before, and I’m pretty sure they weren’t inferring they were doing something forceful with a man.” Whether the lyrics to the song are sexist or not, Pharrell has been very vocal about his support for women’s equality this fall. In September he [endorsed](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/14/pharrell-williams-support-feminist-party-leader-sweden-gudrun-schyman) a feminist party leader in Sweden during a concert. “Let’s give women a shot for once in a while to try to run this world,” he yelled at the concert. And earlier this month, Pharrell [previewed](http://www.mtv.com/news/1992863/pharrell-previewed-gwen-stefani-spark-the-fire/) Gwen Stefani’s “Spark the Fire” during the Odd Future Carnvial in Los Angeles, playing the song from his cellphone. “It’s about feminism,” he told the crowd. \[[_BuzzFeed_](http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwieselman/pharrell-williams-addresses-blurred-lines-controversy)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/"},"headline":"Pharrell Williams Says He's a Feminist After All","datePublished":"2014-11-19T17:42:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:45:22.750Z","description":"The singer originally claimed it \"wasn't possible\"","url":"https://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/","keywords":["Living","feminism","Pharrell Williams","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe4ad5ebf7e3c5a6/69876993cd1bba828f6f39ce/459222510.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe4ad5ebf7e3c5a6/69876993cd1bba828f6f39ce/459222510.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-ENTERTAINMENT-A VERY GRAMMY CHRISTMAS-SHOW","caption":"US-ENTERTAINMENT-A VERY GRAMMY CHRISTMAS-SHOW","creditText":"Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/","name":"Pharrell Williams Says He's a Feminist After All"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com","description":"Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/iV2O2CTU/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-22T15:45:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iV2O2CTU.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/","duration":"PT2M35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```