Take Back, Take Back: Howard U Rescinds Diddy’s Honorary Degree, Curving $1M Pledge
Written by djfrosty on June 8, 2024
Source: Shareif Ziyadat / Getty
Howard University announced that it is rescinding the honorary degree it bestowed on Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2014. The decision comes after video footage was revealed in May of the disgraced Hip-Hop mogul beating his ex-girlfriend and Bad Boy recording artist Cassie Ventura in a hotel lobby in 2016.
On Friday, June 7, the Howard University Board of Trustees announced that it decided to rescind Combs’ honorary degree and to return the $1 million the former student (he never actually graduated) had pledged to the school.
“The Howard University Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to accept the return by Mr. Sean Combs of the honorary degree conferred upon him in 2014,” said an official statement from Howard’s Board of Trustees. “This acceptance revokes all honors and privileges associated with the degree.”
Also, HU is effectively wiping any association with Diddy, who attended the HBCU in the early nineties before dropping out to pursue his career in the music business full time.
The statement continued, “Accordingly, the Board has directed that his name be removed from all documents listing honorary degree recipients of Howard University. Mr. Combs’ behavior as captured in a recently released video is so fundamentally incompatible with Howard University’s core values and beliefs that he is deemed no longer worthy to hold the institution’s highest honor.”
Interestingly, although Diddy originally pledged the $1 million donation in 2016, the Board’s statement reveals that no payments had been made by him or the Sean Combs Foundation to date. So there is no money to return (under a 2023 agreement). The scholarship program established in Combs’ name will also be disbanded.
Diddy, who has always spoken fondly of his time as an undergrad, was the commencement speaker at Howard in 2014 when he received the honorary degree.
Howard is just the latest entity to sever ties with Diddy. Others include Revolt, the media company he founded, and Hulu, which nixed a reality series about his family.