Pharrell Williams sued by former Neptunes partner Chad Hugo over alleged lost earnings | Pharrell Williams
Chad Hugo is suing his Neptunes production partner, Pharrell Williams, over claims that Williams owes Hugo up to $1 million from their last album, 2017’s NERD, No One Ever Real Dies.
He set the tone for pop music in the late ’90s and early 2000s, producing for artists such as Neptunes, Kelis, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Clipse, and Justin Timberlake. They have released five albums as NERD.
Hugo’s lawyers allege that Williams, who has produced artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran and the Weeknd, withheld royalties and shares of touring revenue and merchandise sales and refused to share documents that would clarify Hugo’s earnings despite repeated requests for financial disclosure. Hugo’s lawyers say the requests were ignored or met with only “limited” and “incomplete” documentation due to “breach of the operating agreement.”
They estimate that Hugo’s earnings from No One Really Dies could exceed “$750,000 to $1 million.”
They alleged that Williams “systematically denied” Hugo’s rights, saying Hugo “served his own interests, concealed material information, and…diverted proceeds owed to the plaintiff. Such willful, fraudulent, and malicious conduct warrants the award of punitive damages.”
Williams’ agent He told Billboard magazine He said a standard accounting review was ongoing. “The lawsuit filed is premature as there may not even be a dispute between the parties.
“If the accounting review determines that money is owed, the party involved will pay it. Pharrell has consistently acted in good faith. He has great respect for Chad and looks forward to resolving this in a way that honors their shared history.”
This is Hugo’s second lawsuit against Williams. In 2024, he accused her of trying to “fraudulently” control Neptune’s name. The issue is still a matter for federal trademark court.
At the time, Pharrell’s representatives told Billboard he was “surprised” by the application. “We have reached out multiple times to share ownership and management of the trademark and will continue to make that offer,” they said. “The goal here was to ensure that a third party did not acquire the trademark and to guarantee Chad and Pharrell’s share of ownership and management.” Hugo’s lawyers disputed his claims.
Kelis previously claimed that she was “blatantly lied to and deceived” by Neptunes regarding the royalties for her 1999 debut album Kaleidscope. “Their argument is: ‘Well, you signed it,'” he told the Guardian in 2000. “And I think: ‘Yes, I signed as I was told and I was too young and too stupid to double-check.'” Representatives for Williams and Hugo have not responded to his widely publicized comments.
In 2022, Beyoncé removed an interpolation of Kelis’ song Milkshake from her Renaissance album track Energy after Kelis called it an act of “theft”. He explained that he has no issues with Beyoncé: “It’s beyond this song at this point.”
