Pharrell Says He Will ‘Never Stop Fighting to Level the Playing Field’ as He Accepts Shoe of the Year Award at 2025 FNAAs

In a powerful moment, Pharrell Williams delivered a poetic, sound bite-filled acceptance speech for Shoe of the Year at the 2025 Footwear News Achievement Awards in NYC on Wednesday.

“Sound bite this. Since most people don’t like to read or do research anymore, sound bite this,” Williams said. “God is the greatest. Sound bite this. I’m from Virginia. Sound bite this. You don’t know what I know. You ain’t seen what I saw. No, you ain’t been where I go. I’m from the mud. As a child, nobody’s been evicted more times than me. Lights turned off, water turned off, and at times, had to pump the water. And I didn’t have a name brand sneaker until I was 16, when I could afford them for my first paycheck from McDonald’s. Sound bite this. They were Adidas low-top Instincts.”

Williams added to not be fooled by his bourgeois taste. “I’m proletariat,” he said. “In fact, I’m lumpenproletariat. Sound bite this. I had to stay on my feet. Sound bite this. But I could never walk in the shoes of my parents, parents, parents, etc, all they had to endure while staying on their feet. Or my ancestors, who arrived as captives, enslaved, who had no shoes yet had to stay on their feet as they landed on the shores of Virginia. As Black and Brown people on this earth, we have to stay on our feet. We have never had a choice. Sound bite this.”

While accepting the award, which was presented by rapper Pusha T, the musician and designer also highlighted his Black Ambition initiative, a philanthropic effort to support and mentor Black and Brown startups, which is allocating $85 million to these Black and Brown startups.

Williams also seemingly responded – in his own way – to recent backlash over comments he made last month at the 5th annual Black Ambition Demo Day in Miami. At the time, several media outlets reported that Williams “hated politics.”

But in his FNAA speech, Williams referenced the sound bite of him saying he hated politics was in response to the DEI support and donations drying up because of new policies. “So yes, I got frustrated, and the sound biters, they caught me lacking. But sound bite this: I will never stop fighting. I will never stop raising money to help level the playing field. Never.”

He reiterated to the audience at Wednesday’s event “to be the master of your reality.”

“Be the master of the algorithm,” Williams added. “At least a couple times a day, put down your phone and think on your own.”

In 2025, the prolific artist-designer introduced one of the year’s most celebrated sneakers in the Virginia Adistar Jellyfish. The new Adidas model’s impact has reverberated throughout the footwear industry, spawning instant sell-throughs and secondary market values that defy the reported downswing in sneaker resale.

The shoe debuted at retail in August following more than a year of mounting anticipation. First arriving in a bold orange color-up, the 2025 Shoe of the Year has since been released in green, gray and blue looks, each as coveted as the one before.

For 39 years, the annual FN Achievement Awards — often called the “Shoe Oscars” — have celebrated the style stars, best brand stories, ardent philanthropists, emerging talents and industry veterans. The 2025 event is supported by Caleres, Listrak, Nordstrom, Skechers, Vibram and Wolverine Worldwide.