The Ohio State University found itself at the center of a controversy last week following entrepreneur Chris Pan’s confusing and cringe-inducing commencement speech for the Class of 2024.
Pan ended up admitting that he was high on ayahuasca while writing his speech, in which he encouraged graduates to invest in cryptocurrency and rambled incoherently for stretches. Many in attendance booed Pan at several moments during the speech.
“Got some help from AI (Ayahuasca Intelligence) this week to write my commencement speech for 60k grads and family members at Ohio State University next Sunday,” he wrote on LinkedIn beforehand. Pan also admitted that he tried to use Chat GPT to help him write the speech.
In a recent interview, the OSU grad admitted that while he wasn’t expecting the speech to receive as much “hate” as it did, if he’d known there would be a backlash, he probably wouldn’t have agreed to do it.
Chris Pan admits he didn’t see the backlash to his drug-fueled Bitcoin proselytizing that served as his Ohio State commencement speech coming.
If he had, he says he wouldn’t have taken the gig. pic.twitter.com/pOuaRhhXm4
— The Rooster (@rooster_ohio) May 9, 2024
“I was obviously hoping more for the love. I wasn’t really wanting the hate part, to be honest. I thought the moments people would share would be the singing parts that would be cool, to see people singing, and maybe there’d be a couple little quotes… I didn’t think it would be this polarizing at all. Obviously, if I did, I wouldn’t have probably done it. I don’t know.”
It’s fair to say that it will be a long time before Pan is asked to speak at Ohio State again.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.