#Graduation2020: Hugh Jackman, Awkwafina, Cardi B and other celebs offer facetious advice like using sunscreen
Let's face it -- if you are just getting out of high school or graduating college, 2020 has been a major bummer. There is no sweet release of throwing up those caps and none of the plans with friends that make graduation memorable. So for those kids at home, the Facebook-Instagram #Graduation2020 live online event was a way for celebs to try and make them feel a little less miserable -- well every celeb except Nick Kroll.
Kroll decided to rub a little salt on the wounds by saying the graduates were "so screwed" and then followed it up with a pointless anecdote about himself graduating. It was a masterclass on what not to say in a virtual online graduation ceremony like this. Other celebs did a little better in comparison but not by much.
John Mayer recycled his "sincerity over sarcasm" spiel that he has been trotting out at regular intervals through his social media handles since 2011. Someone write the boy a fresh script, and we mean that, sincerely.
Hugh Jackman asked new graduates to listen to Oprah and "wear sunscreen". We hate to break it to Jackman but there are bigger things to be worried about. Awkwafina, at least had the decency to try and be funny in her own weird way. She said, "Congraduations", pausing to let that wordplay sink in, before moving on to tips and advice like telling them not to "microwave metal, not even a tiny spoon".'
Cardi B, very predictably, asked graduates to make sure they made money moves, in a complete antithesis to Oprah's speech about wanting the class of 2020 to lead their communities and the world. Cardi B pointed out, that she might never have finished college, but she knew that now was the time for graduates to "research careers around the money you want to make".
But there were a few gems in the sea of facetious advice. Namely Olympic champion Simone Biles and America's sweetheart, Kristen Bell. Biles said, that while the graduates were missing out on their "medal ceremony", it didn't matter because they had "already won".
Kirsten Bell had words of consolation along similar lines. “It’s not the moments of achievement or recognition that stick with you, it’s the getting there that you remember. [Do] you think Ted Danson remembers what it’s like on the day that he won the Emmy? No.”
While a call to Danson seemed to clarify that Danson did indeed revel in the memories of the award ceremony, Bell stuck to her guns. She reminded graduates that the journey and the friends they made along the way mattered the most. That was the formative experience they would cling to once they were all old and grey -- a mere, missed graduation wasn't going to take that away from them. And if it is any consolation, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala, is graduating and she too is stuck at home with her "two annoying younger brothers". Some things never change -- pandemic, or not.