Pharrell Williams is a multiple Grammy Award winner, artist, and record producer. The singer is behind the global hit song “Happy.” He has made a name for himself as one of the most successful American entertainers and fashion icons.
Despite his success as a musician and record producer, his journey has not always been smooth sailing. He recently reflected on his dismissal from the Golden Arches.
In an interview with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2, he recalled his failed attempts to work in fast food, revealing that he was fired three times from McDonalds.
“McDonald’s, my first and only job — got fired three times,” Williams said in the interview with the BBC. “I was eating the chicken nuggets.”
According to him, he was fired for munching on the job. “It got me in trouble,” Williams said. “I got fired three times. Not for the same thing. The first two times, it was just because I was lazy. The third time, it was just kind of like, ‘Dude, what are you doing? Why are you just sitting there eating nuggets? What are you doing?'”
Williams said was tempted by the eatery’s sauces.
“I found the sweet and sour sauce and the chicken nugget pretty, an alchemical combination,” he explained. “I was one of those kids, I just liked flavors. So I would have sweet and sour on one, and on the other one I would have ranch. And I’d just go back and forth.”
Interestingly, Williams ended up working with McDonald’s on a jingle in the early 2000s.
In February last year, Williams was named the creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear, making him the second black person to hold the position after former creative director, Ghanaian-American-born, Virgil Abloh, sadly passed away in November 2021.
Williams emerged as a surprise candidate for the job. According to Dezeen, it was a two-horse race between Liberian-American fashion designer Telfar Clemens and Jamaican-British fashion designers Grace Wales Bonner and Martine Rose.
Williams has been involved in the fashion industry for almost as long as his music career. In 2013, he co-founded the streetwear label, Billionaire Boy’s Club. He was also in charge of a sublabel of Billionaire Boy’s Club named Ice Cream.
According to Euronews, he has worked with brands like Chanel and collaborated with luxury brand designer Marc Jacobs to design eyewear for the label in 2004, and again in 2008.
