Pharrell Williams recalls getting fired from McDonald’s 3 times

You May Be Interested In:Vulture Has a New App! Vulture Joined a New App!



Pharrell Williams is reflecting on his expulsion from the golden arches.

The “Happy” singer recently recalled his ill-fated attempts to work in fast food.

“McDonald’s, my first and only job — got fired three times,” Williams said in a new interview with the BBC. “I was eating the chicken nuggets.”

Pharrell Williams.

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty 


The 13-time Grammy winner was essentially booted 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?'”

As he tells it, the hit-making producer fell victim to the temptation of 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.”

Despite his multiple dismissals from the restaurant, Williams ended up working with McDonald’s on a jingle in the early 2000s. “I thought it was ironic, and I thought it was very funny,” he said on Hot Ones last month.

Williams cooked up Justin Timberlake’s 2003 single “I’m Lovin’ It” as part of the NSYNC singer’s endorsement deal with Mickey D’s. Because the track incorporated the brand’s now-iconic five-note “ba da ba ba ba” jingle into it, the ad executives Tom Batoy, Franco Tortora, and the aptly named Andreas Forberger also received a songwriting credit for the song.

Pharrell Williams.

Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty 


Williams clarified that he wasn’t directly involved in the composition of the jingle — just the song it inspired. “[McDonald’s] brought that to us and asked us to make a song out of it,” he explained on Hot Ones. “I mean, I didn’t wake up one day and say, ‘Oh, I got an idea for McDonald’s: da da da da da, I’m loving it.’ It was more like incorporating a jingle, you know, an idea and the concept that they had around.”

The musician didn’t care if he was associated with the jingle. “I think people think that I was like, ‘Wait a second, hold on, it’s going to be three das or whatever it is, five, and I’m loving it,'” he said. “That’s not what happened. It was more of them saying, ‘Can you make a song out of this?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, sure.'”

It’s possible that Williams is distancing himself from the McDonald’s bop to avoid beef with his frequent collaborator and longtime friend Pusha T, whom he has known since the rapper was in middle school. Pusha T claimed that he wrote the five-note jingle in 2016, which Batoy has disputed.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

share Paylaş facebook pinterest whatsapp x print

Similar Content

The New Yorker
The Feminist Critic Who Kept Flaubert on His Toes
'Hawkeye' star Hailee Steinfeld engaged to NFL quarterback Josh Allen
‘Hawkeye’ star Hailee Steinfeld engaged to NFL quarterback Josh Allen
Cher reveals that she lost her virginity having 'revenge sex': 'A massively overrated experience'
Cher reveals that she lost her virginity having ‘revenge sex’: ‘A massively overrated experience’
Comcast to spin off MSNBC, CNBC and cable channels
Comcast to spin off MSNBC, CNBC and cable channels
'What We Do in the Shadows' is approaching the end, but 'life goes on' in the vampire comedy
‘What We Do in the Shadows’ is approaching the end, but ‘life goes on’ in the vampire comedy
Billy Bob Thornton on how Taylor Sheridan wrote 'Landman' with him in mind
Billy Bob Thornton on how Taylor Sheridan wrote ‘Landman’ with him in mind
The Daily Dispatch | © 2024 | News