Chris Pan Wants to Set the Record Straight about His Ohio State Commencement Speech

credit: Plos Blogs

Chris Pan's commencement speech at Ohio State has been called "cringe-worthy" and "the worst Ohio State commencement speech ever"but the social entrepreneur and 1999 Ohio State graduate wants to set the record straight.

In an interview with the Columbus Dispatch, Pan says he was "honored" to be chosen to speak at the ceremony and that he "honestly didn't think it was a prank" when he got an email from President Ted Carter's office on March 8 inviting him to speak.

"I honestly didn't think it was a prank," Pan says.

"I just didn't like realize because it was such a big deal.

Like such a big honor."

Pan, who has spoken at Ohio State several times before, says he started brainstorming ideas for the speech right away and used ayahuasca, a psychedelic liquid from South America, multiple times.

"You look at (people) like John Lennon, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, like these are all guys that regularly work with psychedelics, not for recreational but for healing and for creativity," Pan says.

"I couldn't get myself to do it because that's just not who I am."

He says he tried to write a more traditional speech, but

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