With graduation events canceled nationwide amid the novel coronavirus, schools are hosting online commencement ceremonies to honor 2020 graduates. While many students were able to hear from their favorite role models or celebrities this year, some were not so lucky. Students graduating from Fremont High School in Nebraska were gifted with “the worst graduation speech of all time,” on May 16 when Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse attempted to do a stand-up routine in a taped speech. The Republican senator not only made offensive “jokes” that blamed China for the COVID-19 pandemic but targeted students and professionals as well.
He belittled the idea that students could be upset about missing graduation claiming that they were not "missing out on that much" because "nobody remembers" their high school graduation. This set the stage for his next “joke” in which he advised students not to pursue psychology. "Ninety-five percent of all gainfully employed psychologists—and I'm serious, there are dozens of them that are gainfully employed—their job is really just to help people forget high school and the other 5%, they just research hamsters who get lost in mazes, which, come to think of it is a lot like high school, and that's why we want to forget it," Sasse said. "There will always be money to be made in psychology. Now that's a joke. ... If you're headed to college, do not major in psychology. That part's not a joke," he added.
Social media quickly awarded the eight-minute atrocity “the worst graduation speech of all time.” The speech went viral with many disgusted at the Republican senator’s failed attempt at honoring his alma mater’s graduating high school class. The school district issued a statement clarifying that it did not agree with the senator’s “despicable” comments in addition to stating that guest speakers are not censored. "The words spoken belong to the individual that said them, not the school district," the statement said. "Including them as part of the ceremony does not endorse the individual, the content of the speech or the interpretations of what was provided."
Members of the school board demanded the senator issue a public apology to students for his racist and degrading speech, BuzzFeed News reported. "You deserved better than the graduation remarks from Senator Ben Sasse," Michael Petersen, a school board member wrote in a Facebook post, according to BuzzFeed. "The racism, implying that our graduates are fat and lazy, disparaging teachers, and attacking the mental health profession are despicable. You owe the graduating students of Fremont High an apology."
Upon receiving criticism, James Wegmann, Sasse’s spokesperson expressed no remorse, said it was silly to assume graduates were unable to “hear the truth,” and followed Sasse’s footsteps in blaming China and liberals for global issues like the pandemic. "Like he said in the video greeting, Ben’s proud of each of the graduates—and he believes their generation is tough enough to help lead us through the bumpy economic times ahead. It’s ridiculous that some politically addicted folks are complaining about Ben calling out China in a joke,” Wegmann said in a statement to the Omaha World-Herald. “He’s said this for months, because it’s true: The Chinese Communist Party’s coronavirus coverup wasted time that could have contained the spread—those lies cost innocent lives in China and around the world. Pretending graduates are too fragile to hear the truth is silly." Sasse has not directly commented yet on his racist remarks or pathetic speech.
For those of you who cannot bear to sit through the eight-minute waste of time, here are some more outrageous quotes from it.
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“Let's be honest, at the start of this, most parents thought we would be visionary math teachers, changing the world. But after about two weeks, we all decided to just default into gym teachers. I'm kidding—my dad was a gym teacher. I'm serious."
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"You're gonna say stuff at your high school reunion service ceremonies, 'Remember that time that China started a big global pandemic that created the worst public health crisis in over a century and brought the economy to its knees and we had to stay at home and everybody was hoarding toilet paper and we all watched this documentary about some weirdo dude who raised tigers?'"
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"We will bring the economy back. We are going to beat the virus. We're going to have to have a serious reckoning with the thugs in China who let this mess spiral out of control by lying about it."
Correct me if I’m wrong, but students probably expected something different when they heard a senator was speaking for their graduation. But at least one person benefited from Sasse’s failure; according to BuzzFeed News, people on Twitter took Sasse’s speech as inspiration to donate to Democrat Chris Janicek, Sasse’s opposition in the November elections.