Oscars 2014: Ellen DeGeneres passes Pharrell’s hat for pizza money
Pharrell Williams’ hat contains inexhaustible depths of pop-culture amusement.
The producer-singer’s original idiosyncratic headwear -- a brown Vivienne Westwood number made famous at this year’s Grammys -- was recently bought by the fast-food chain Arby’s, whose logo bears a striking resemblance to it.
But it resurfaced at this year’s Academy Awards, where Williams performed his Oscar-nominated song “Happy,” from “Despicable Me 2.”
While he first turned heads on the red carpet for wearing a contrarian Lanvin tuxedo-and-shorts combo, it wouldn’t be a pop-culture event without keeping the prior meme alive. While he had a new, darker edition of the towering ranger cap for his performance (which comes on the heels of his new album, “G I R L”), the old one earned another clandestine photo op.
Host Ellen DeGeneres got hold of the hulking headwear and passed it around the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood during the Oscars show Sunday night to collect money for her pizza-delivery gag. Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey and others threw in for it.
The regal Lupita Nyong’o had only a tube of lip balm to offer, which DeGeneres reasonably kept for herself.
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