He's made millions with the insipid, "Happy" song which, as ear worms go, is right up there with "It's A Small World" in its obnoxious infectious melody. But Sunday night on the Grammy Awards, Pharrell chose to wrap his dippy little ditty around the bogus #BlackLivesMatter movement by having his onstage ensemble dramatically raise their hands over their heads in the iconic "Hands up, Don't Shoot" position.

The "Hands up, Don't Shoot" gesture is linked to the shooting death of Michael Brown last year in Ferguson, MO when a witness suggested that Brown was shot with his hands raised above his head in a classic surrender stance. However, the grand jury testimony from numerous witnesses as well as forensic data from multiple autopsies prove that Brown never raised his hands over his head.

Nevertheless, mobs of street protesters, professional athletes (and now millionaire singer/songwriters) have continued to make the gesture as some sort of racial social statement.

The blatant attempt to inject race politics into his performance is fascinating considering Pharrell came under fire from his fans for raising questions about  Brown's behavior in the moments before he was killed by a police officer last year:   

“It looked very bullyish; that in itself I had a problem with,” the award-winning artist who brought the world the ubiquitous “Happy” song told Ebony. “Not with the kid, but with whatever happened in his life for him to arrive at a place where that behavior is OK. Why aren’t we talking about that?”