Behind the scenes of Chris Pan’s viral commencement speech: The nomination process, Ohio State’s speaker history and who really made the call

Emma Wozniak
Thu, 30 Jan 2025 18:48:17 +0000
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As the class of 2024 sat in the ‘Shoe in May, there were dozens of commencement speakers they could have heard from, each one having been nominated to the university’s Commencement Speaker Advisory Committee that year.

Michelle Obama, the 44th First Lady of the United States and the first Black woman to serve in the role, was the committee’s first choice.

Lizzo, formally known as Melissa Viviane Jefferson and a singer-songwriter with over 11 million monthly Spotify listeners, was the committee’s second preference.

LeBron James, the NBA all-time leading scorer and an open advocate for higher education who is also an Ohio native, was ranked No. 3 by the committee.

Other individuals on the committee’s list include Olympian Michael Phelps, comedian and talk-show host Trevor Noah and actor-producer Morgan Freeman.

Instead, university President Ted Carter Jr. selected Chris Pan — the social entrepreneur who encouraged graduates to consider investing in Bitcoin, performed two songs and a magic trick and openly admitted to writing drafts of his speech while high on the psychedelic drug ayahuasca — who did not appear at all on the committee’s list of recommended speakers for the 2023-24 year.