Pharrell Williams reluctant to hold Virginia music festival after cousin's death
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach leaders want Pharrell Williams to bring his popular Something in the Water festival back next year, but the musician is reluctant, saying a “toxic energy” has run the city for too long and he wishes the city took a more proactive stance after a police officer fatally shot his cousin.
City leaders appealed to the Grammy-winning producer to restore the festival in 2022. In 2019, the festival brought $24 million to the local Hampton Roads economy. But Williams, who lived there as a child, wrote that he held the festival to ease racial tension, and he feels that the city isn’t valuing his ideas for promoting “human rights for all.”
“I wish the same energy I’ve felt from Virginia Beach leadership upon losing the festival would have been similarly channeled following the loss of my relative’s life,” Williams wrote in response. “I love my city, but for far too long it has been run by- and with toxic energy.”
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Williams’ 25-year-old cousin, Donovon Lynch, was killed in the early morning hours of March 27 along the city’s popular oceanfront strip of hotels and restaurants during a "chaotic night" in which 10 people were shot during separate incidents.
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Police said Lynch, a Black man, pointed a handgun at the officer who shot him. The officer, identified as Solomon D. Simmons III, who also is Black, “feared for his life and the lives of other officers and citizens in the vicinity,” the city said. The gun was recovered from the scene.
On March 29, the official Twitter account for Something in the Water festival shared a tribute to Lynch, writing, "We don’t have the words to fully express how sorry we are about the loss of this beautiful life."
"We thank you and your family for your light and service," the statement continued. "The VA Beach community and beyond will miss you. Rest In Peace Donovon."
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In April, Williams called for a federal investigation into the fatal police shooting after attending his cousin’s funeral in Virginia Beach, his hometown, and where Lynch lived.
"I had to speak at my cousin’s funeral, and was choked up with emotions," he wrote on Instagram, in a now-deleted post. "Too many unanswered City and State questions. Respectfully, I am calling for a Federal investigation. I also humbly ask that you all keep the family in prayer."
In June, Lynch’s father filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit.
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Something in the Water was originally scheduled for April 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic pushed back the Virginia music festival until April 2021. It was eventually canceled altogether.
Although the festival's official website states it "can't wait to see (concertgoers) in 2022," a date has not yet been set and it's unclear if Williams will move forward with the event.
But Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer said he's hoping "to get things back on track."
"We’re hoping we can have a face-to-face meeting with Pharrell and go over his concerns and see what we can do to get things back on track,” Dyer said. "By meeting in person and communicating, I am confident we can move in a better direction. That would be best to build those positive bridges."
Contributing: Cydney Henderson
