Who is Ben Sasse and what did he say during Fremont’s high school commencement speech?
A US senator’s multiple attempts at humor during an online commencement speech appeared to fall far short on Saturday. Ben Sasse has been heavily criticized for the words he spoke during the Fremont High School ceremony in Nebraska. Who is Ben Sasse? The Republican senator from Nebraska is also an author, professor and academic administrator. […]
A US senator’s multiple attempts at humor during an online commencement speech appeared to fall far short on Saturday.
Ben Sasse has been heavily criticized for the words he spoke during the Fremont High School ceremony in Nebraska.
Who is Ben Sasse?
The Republican senator from Nebraska is also an author, professor and academic administrator.
He was first elected to the Senate seat in 2014 and is running for a second term against Democrat Chris Janicek in November.
Sasse attended Fremont High School himself, graduating in 1990.
What did he say during the Fremont graduation speech?
Sasse said thar “95 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 … If you’re headed to college, do not – do not – major in psychology.”
The senator added: That part’s not a joke.”
I thought folks were kidding about Ben Sasse's speech to high school graduates. They were not kidding. I just watched it, and that's several minutes of my life I'll never get back. Truly the worst commencement speech I've ever heard. What a narcissistic asshole.
— Charlotte Clymer
(@cmclymer) May 18, 2020
Sasse was unshaven and wore a loosened tie while making the speech.
He told the graduates that they would be asked to climb giant ropes often in life.
“If you don’t get that joke, talk to your mom and dad,” he said.
“Back in the day when we were a lot fitter than you people are, we used to have to climb ropes all the way up to the ceiling of the gym all the time.”
Sasse spoke of the coronavirus crisis during the seven-minute speech and made some cracks about China in the process.
He said that the graduates would remember their senior years at their future reunions as “that time when 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 home and everybody was hoarding toilet paper.”
Sasse added: “Nobody knows exactly how we’re going to beat this thing, but you know what, we’re Americans, we’re Nebraskans, we’ve got grit and we’re going to beat this thing.”
“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.”
Janicek, his foe in November’s election, said “it’s hard for me to believe that a US senator would make remarks” like that.
“Ridiculing mental health care specialists, suggesting that the graduates are lazy slackers and using the platform to blame China for the pandemic we have now is beyond reprehensible.”
Fremont school board member Michael Petersen expressed his outrage on Facebook.
“You deserved better than the graduation remarks from Senator Ben Sasse,” he wrote.
“The racism, implying that our graduates are fat and lazy, disparaging teachers, and attacking the mental health profession are despicable.”
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Sasse spokesman James Wegmann told the World-Herald that “it’s ridiculous that some politically addicted folks are complaining about Ben calling out China in a joke.”
“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,” said Wegmann.
“Pretending graduates are too fragile to hear the truth is silly.”