*When Pharrell Williams and the production company Uncommon Content Partners teamed to launch the web series “ARTST TLK w/ Pharrell Williams,” their goal was to offer a “progressive take on the talk show format,” where fans could “explore the motivations & inspirations of some of the world’s most creative people.”
The 12-episode series is an “original YouTube program featuring the award-winning producer/businessman and two special guests. The show was set to begin production on season 2 when Pharrell kicked his partners to the curb so he could fulfill his obligation as judge on “The Voice.” His ex-business partners are now suing him, alleging breach of contract, and they want a judge to make Williams hand over his contract for “The Voice” to show them exactly how much he rakes in per season on the talent show.
thejasmineBrand exclusively reports the producers are demanding millions in damages for all the money they lost investing into ARTST TLK, only to have Pharrell complicate their agreement by shutting them out. Pharrell believes the lawsuit has no merit because a provision in the contract allows him to back out of season 2 if there are scheduling conflicts.
The producers fired back at his request to toss the lawsuit, stating that “Pharrell was attempting to deceive the court about the terms of the agreement.” The company said the contract specifically states that Williams is obligated to complete a 2nd season of the YouTube show, and “the only provision is they have to agree upon a schedule.” It doesn’t state that if they can’t agree then Pharrell is allowed to abandon the project.
His former partners believe that since Pharrell does not work every day on “The Voice,” then there’s no reason why he couldn’t fulfill his ARTST TLK contract for another season. Pharrell returned to court explaining that he wasn’t going to pass up on the chance to be a judge on “The Voice.”
Recently, Pharrell’s former partners returned to court to ask the judge to issue an injunction to stop the singer from releasing further episodes of his new talk show from being played on Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio program. He launched the show this year, titled ‘OTHERtone,’ and the jilted partners claims the show – where Pharrell plays host and interviews various celebrity guests – was a breach of the original deal.
On January 22nd, Uncommon Content Partners filed new court docs demanding Pharrell hand over his “The Voice” contract to support their claims that his lucrative salary was motive for not producing a second season of ARTST TLK with them.
