Wait, is Lil Pump speaking at Harvard University's commencement ceremony?
The timing was just too perfect.
Three days after Lil Pump released his album Harverd Dropout, his record label sent out a press release saying that the rapper would be a 2019 commencement speaker at Harvard University. The teen would be the prestigious university’s “youngest commencement speaker in history,” and join the ranks of Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates and J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Records claimed.
There was even a quote from Lil Pump that included the name of one of his songs: “You don’t gotta graduate from Harvard to do this speech. I dropped out, so they called me like they called the guy that made Windows and PCs and s*** before I was born. You just need a cap and gown, which I got. When I found out, I was happy to give everyone a lesson. I’m all about the youth. Yes, they are the future. This is a preview of my speech, one word: ESSKEETIT!!!!!!”
The whole thing turned out to be a hoax. The university confirmed to Yahoo Entertainment that, “as previously announced, Angela Merkel will be Harvard’s Commencement 2019 speaker.” As in, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the leader of the country.
HARVERD DROPOUT OUT NOW https://t.co/PgAQxhdA4O
RT !! 🦋 pic.twitter.com/x9aryB8Wjf
— Lil pump (@lilpump) February 22, 2019
The record label did not respond to a request for comment.
Social media was shocked by the apparently faux announcement. “Imagine going to an Ivy League institution for four years to have Lil Pump talk to you at your graduation,” one Twitter user mused. “Is this a joke?” asked another.
Even after the claim was debunked, Lil Pump was trending online. There was the Harvard rumor, but the rapper was also making headlines because a disorderly conduct case against him was dropped Monday, three days after TMZ posted video footage of one of the officers arresting him during a December incident at a Miami airport.
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