Now Reading: Pharrell Williams Faces Expanded Lawsuit from Chad Hugo
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Pharrell Williams Faces Expanded Lawsuit from Chad Hugo
Photo Credit: Chad Hugo by Seher Sikandar for Rehes Creative / CC by 2.0
Less than two months after filing a massive unpaid-royalties lawsuit against Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo has fired off an expanded complaint. Now, The Neptunes co-founder is demanding credits on releases from Tyler the Creator, Latto, and Rosalía.
As we broke down closer to 2026’s beginning, Hugo and Williams established The Neptunes nearly 35 years ago, and the production duo had a hand in releases from Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, deadmau5, and many others.
Meanwhile, the same professionals (along with non-party Shay Haley) also formed N.E.R.D., which went on to put out albums including 2017’s No One Ever Really Dies. But unsurprisingly, in light of the action, there’s more to the story than a fruitful decades-long partnership between Hugo and Williams.
According to Hugo, though Williams was “the public-facing member of the duo” and the “sole authorized signatory” behind the scenes, his (Hugo’s) contributions to The Neptunes as well as N.E.R.D. were “indispensable.”
Nevertheless, Williams has allegedly failed to pay Hugo his share of the relevant royalties (including from an “agreed-upon 50/50 production split” for The Neptunes’ work), fork over due merch revenue, and provide financial statements.
Regarding hard numbers, Hugo maintains that he’s not received any N.E.R.D. merch revenue since September 2023 and is entitled to “at least $325,000-$575,000” for the act’s No One Ever Really Dies.
In general, even the amended complaint is light on concrete figures; Hugo has allegedly “been denied the very financial statements, royalty statements, ledgers, bank records, and other documentation needed to determine what sums are owed.”
(A question that’s been popping up quite often as of late: Why litigate now? Well, as laid out by Hugo, the action’s been a long time coming. His attorneys are said to have demanded Williams produce “certain financial documents” in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. And acting on Hugo’s behalf, Citrin Cooperman in 2023 itself sought a trove of financial and royalty statements.)
Back to the 50/50 split, Hugo says he contributed to a variety of works (including from the aforementioned artists) with the “mutual understanding and intention that his contributions would be credited.”
However, Williams allegedly “failed to credit” Hugo altogether; the plaintiff says he should also be credited alongside Williams on Rosalía’s “Motomami” and “La Combi Versace,” to name a couple. (Hugo appears to have just one credit on the corresponding album, for “Hentai.”)
Like in the initial complaint, Hugo is once again suing for breach of fiduciary duty (alleging “hundreds of thousands of dollars or more” in damages), to access the financial documents associated with both The Neptunes and N.E.R.D., and for declaratory relief concerning the allegations.
But the bolstered suit has added a declaratory judgment of copyright ownership claim centering on Williams’ alleged failure to credit Hugo.
Hugo “is entitled to a judicial declaration that he is a joint author and co-owner of the” Neptunes works “to which he contributed copyrightable expression,” the action spells out.
Lastly, the plaintiff is further seeking a “full accounting” addressing compensation from the works’ various exploitations. According to another new claim from Hugo, Williams and the defendant companies “have retained one hundred percent (100%) of all revenues derived from the exploitation of works in which” Hugo has a 50% interest.
