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Pharrell recently attended his cousin Donovan Lynch's funeral, who was shot and killed by a police officer in Virginia Beach on March 26.

Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen Pharrell Describes Being 'Choked With Emotion' At Cousin's Funeral After Police Killing Published on:Jun 3, 2021, 7:25 AM by 0 Virginia Beach, VA Pharrellscousin Donovan Lynch was shot and killed by a police officer in Virginia Beach on March 26 at just 25 years of age. The Grammy-winning artist should have been celebrating his 48th birthday on April 5, but instead returned to his hometown to mourn the loss of his beloved family member. Speaking to Town & Country Magazine, Pharrell explained how the overwhelming sadness he felt at the funeral impacted his speech. We had to bury my cousin on my birthday, he revealed. It was bittersweet. The way he died was bitter. Where he is right now is sweet. I wasnt able to deliver the speech with the fire and intention I wanted because I was just choked with emotion. Its not just the loss of life. Its also the cause of the loss of life. And its a much larger problem, you know? View this post on Instagram A post shared by Pharrell Williams (@pharrell) Pharrell went on to discuss the gravity of being a Black person living in America and the actions taken by the police officer who killed his cousin. As a Black person, when youre born in this country, you immediately feel a much heavier gravity, he said. The gravity is one that we see in our rules and regulations and laws. We see it in the lack of options. We see it in what were fed, what is marketed to us. We see it in broken educational systems. Knowing that if Donovan had been white he wouldnt have gotten shot multiple times and left in the street for an inhumane amount of time, til the next morning, no gun in handthats gravity. The race of the officer doesnt pertain to the conversation, because if Donovan had been white they would have never shot him like that. So there is gravity. And there, too, is hope that things will change. He added, Im still processing. I dont really have a lot of answers at the moment. I think Ive been so sad over this past week because I dont know what Im doing. Read more