Pharrell Williams will guest star on The Simpsons on February 8th, playing himself in the episode. According to Entertainment Weekly, the show will center around a “stolen” song. The plot of the episode is as follows: Pharrell Williams offers to write the town of Springfield a jingle, after the characters find out the original musician they hired sold them a recycled song. Are the writers of The Simpsons making fun of the actual lawsuit involving Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and Marvin Gaye‘s estate? Marvin Gaye’s family is accusing Thicke and Williams of stealing Gaye’s song “Got to Give It Up.” The family believes Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” is just a “knock-off” of Gaye’s hit single. The family also claims Thicke is obsessed with Gaye. They contend Robin Thicke’s “Love After War” was also stolen from Gaye’s “After the Dance” record.
The Simpsons first aired on Fox in 1989, and the animated series has been on air for an unprecedented twenty-six seasons. The show has had a countless number of celebrity guest appearances, including a great deal of recording artists such as Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, U2, ‘N Sync, and Elton John.
Pharrell Williams will serve as creative director of Live Earth 2015. Live Earth spreads environmental awareness and climate change concerns around the world. Co-founders Al Gore and Kevin Hall began the Live Earth music festival in 2007. This year’s festival will feature 100 artists performing across seven continents. No recording artists have been announced yet, but the festival will take place in New York, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, China, and Paris. Williams performed at Live Earth’s inaugural event, but he would not specify if he will perform this year.
The goal of the 24-hour event is to collect one billion signatures, in order to encourage world leaders to adopt a new climate accord at the Paris conference. The 2007 Live Earth was placed in Washington D.C., Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Rome, and Tokyo. Past performers include Madonna, the Police, Kanye West, Foo Fighters, Metallica, and the Beastie Boys. The Guardian reports, more than nineteen million people viewed the festival in the United States alone, eight million people viewed the event online.