John Legend is weighing in on the college admissions cheating scandal that rocked Hollywood and the wealthy community earlier this month. Legend specifically discussed the challenges with America’s education system while attending the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles last Wednesday (Mar. 13).
While Legend highlighted the wrongdoing in the parents who reportedly paid and bribed their children’s way into elite schools, he suggested that people focus on the bigger picture. “I went to a good school,” Legend, who studied English with an emphasis on African-American literature at the University of Pennsylvania, said. “I think it’s a longer conversation because I think a lot of people look at this rightly as fraudulent and dishonest.”
He continued: “But the bottom line is, the system has been rigged for wealthy people for a long time,” he continued. “The admissions system rewards people’s parents being wealthy and people’s parents having gone to a certain school. There’s a lot of legal ways to do that that still aren’t really that fair to a lot of other people.”
As previously reported, the U.S. federal prosecutors charged 50 people who were allegedly part of a secret college admissions scheme. Wealthy parents, including Full House star Lori Loughlin and Desperate Housewives’ Felicity Huffman, allegedly paid more than $25 million to a “college admissions counselor” who used the money to fake test scores and bribe college officials.
Shortly after the news broke, Chrissy Teigen made fun of the situation by posting a an image of a professional soccer team with her and husband John’s faces Photoshopped on two of the bodies. She was referencing court documents that alleged Loughlin paid to have her daughter appear to be a recruit for the University of Southern California’s crew team.
The FBI is still pursuing the investigation.
does this look real? we are trying to get into harvard @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend pic.twitter.com/jpcNGq2mVi
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 13, 2019