Pharrell cancels student loan debt of NAACP youth leaders

Singer and music producer Pharrell Williams paid off the student loan debt of five NAACP youth leaders Friday.

The musical artist surprised the leaders during a panel held by the organization on the Black student debt crisis at the St. Regis hotel in Washington, D.C., according to an NAACP press release.

Wisdom Cole, the NAACP’s national director of youth and college who organized the panel, said in a statement that Williams’s “powerful” gesture is evidence of how many lives would be changed if President Biden took the same action on a national level.

“Pharrell forever changed their lives. This was a powerful moment,” Cole said. “Now just imagine if President Biden made this a reality for all student debt holders in America. Student debt continues to disproportionately plague the Black community and crush opportunities for so many Black people. It is time to reduce the racial wealth gap, it is time for President Biden to fulfill his promise.”

The news comes as Biden has been weighing some sort of federal student loan forgiveness action in recent weeks, with sources claiming that he will likely make an announcement on the subject in July or August.

If he did so, the the decision would be announced close to the end of the student loan payment moratorium, which is set to expire on Aug. 31.

The “Happy” singer, who has frequently used his platform to advocate for causes affecting the Black community, is hosting a music festival in D.C. over Juneteenth weekend.