Recently, Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman had folks wondering whatever happened to honest ability, the scammer, the famous husband, and Desperate Housewives on TV, when news rose of a college admissions fraud ring worth approximately $25 million.
The scandal not only lit a spark in the ongoing conversation around white privilege, but it also provided ammo as to why affirmative action is necessary.
Additionally, the question of merit arose—how much does hard-earned merit matter when it comes to college admissions?
Dr. Dre (born Andre Romelle Young), like any proud father in this social media age, took to Instagram to praise his daughter for getting accepted into college. Coincidentally, that college happened to be USC (University of Southern California), the same school smack-dab in the middle of the Whitey McScandal. What he could’ve left out was a petty dig at the end of the triumphant caption.
“My daughter got accepted to USC all on her own. No jail time!!!” exclaimed the hip hop mogul in the now-deleted post.
The part where he says “all on her own” and “no jail time” opened up a big ol’ can of scrutinizing worms for papa Dre, unfortunately.
According to NBC News, the 54-year-old former member of N.W.A. apparently came under scrutiny himself after it was confirmed he had previously donated $70 million to the institution. In 2013, Dr. Dre teamed up with his Beats By Dre co-founder and business partner, Jimmy Iovine to create the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation.
They dug that shit up quick, too. No one forgot about Dre, indeed.
Of course, donations to institutions happen all the time by alumni and philanthropists. It doesn’t necessarily make the gesture a bribe. But of course, because Dr. Dre decided to fire shots, social media had to be all, “Now I know you not talkin’!” It’s natural order, especially in playing The Dozens.
Plus, “on one’s own” is pretty much a capitalist myth akin to the whole concept of “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps”—or the existence of a certain “self-made billionaire.”
So ... yeah.