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Ohio State University it was solemn on a day designated for celebration; a few hours before university the start was expected, one participant suffered a fatal fall from 136 feet at the ceremony venue, Ohio Stadium.

With so many families already at the stadium – around 60,000 in attendance – and the event almost underway, the university decided to move forward with the ceremony despite the tragedy.

As always, a start speaker was chosen to give words of wisdom to graduating seniors, but the speaker of 2024 had the added burden of doing so under a cloud of desperation.

Enter Chris Pan, a “social entrepreneur” alumnus who promotes cryptocurrency and who was reportedly hand-picked by the university president to give this year’s commencement address.

It didn’t go well.

The speech was described as the “worst commencement speech ever” by some attendees who spoke The roosterwhich reported the strange address that the graduating students received on Sunday.

Although he had never given a speech of that magnitude, Mr. Pan was still chosen to lead the ceremony. He reportedly thought it was a joke when he was first asked to provide the address.

Sharing his anxieties about writing the speech on Facebook, Pan revealed that he had written parts of it while using the South American hallucinogen Ayahuasca, after a failed attempt to use ChatGPT.

“This week I received help from AI (Ayahuasca Intelligence) to write my keynote speech for 60,000 graduates and family members at The Ohio State University next Sunday,” he wrote. “We live in difficult times: we wanted something more heartfelt. (I tried chatGPT but it wasn’t so good)”

Mr. Pan later edited the post to say that he was relying on “Higher Intelligence” rather than “Ayahuasca Intelligence.”

A screenshot of “social entrepreneur” Chris Pan’s Facebook post in which he claims he used the South American hallucinogen ayahuasca to help him write his commencement speech at Ohio State University (The Rooster via Chris Pan Facebook)

He shared a quote from author and fellow psychonaut Terence McKenna along with his post.

“They would tell you this in Peru, you know: This is our university. You went to Harvard, we went to Ayahuasca,” the quote reads.

What followed was a bizarre cocktail of chants, crypto-shillings and jewels that left many in the audience stunned.

Shortly after the speech began, Mr. Pan asked the audience to stand and sing 4 Non Blondes’ 1993 hit “What’s Up?”

“When I wake up in the morning and go outside, I take a deep breath and feel really high, and I scream at the top of my lungs: What’s going on?” Mr Pan sang before adding arm movements in conjunction with the song’s chorus.

After the chant, Pan began talking about investing, which eventually led him to recommend Bitcoin as a “much misunderstood asset class,” earning audible boos and laughter from the crowd.

He also had a PowerPoint to accompany his commentary.

Soon after, he seemed to suggest that singing was a better therapy for those suffering from mental illness than antidepressants.

“For emotional freedom, I came across singing as a wellness practice after going through a terrible heartbreak. Every morning I felt so much sadness and pain. I considered taking antidepressants, but intuitively I started singing every morning “, he said. “I’m not a trained singer, but I used it as music therapy.”

He then told the crowd that he would give everyone bracelets with a word of their choice as a daily reminder of their spiritual and personal growth goals — noting that “the details [were] arriving via email”.

OSU keynote speaker promoting cryptocurrencies leads crowd in singalong during bizarre speech

His word? An ampersand, as a reminder that racism… well, it’s just not cool.

He concluded the speech with another song, this time choosing “This Little Light of Mine.”

An OSU graduate captured the crowd’s feelings during the speech in a video posted to TikTok.

“pov: you are graduating from OSU and the commencement speaker is asking us to sing and dance,” the user wrote. Mr Pan can be heard singing while students laugh and look bewildered in the background.

Reporters a The rooster they are left wondering “How could this happen?” — according to sources who spoke to the publication on condition of anonymity for fear of backlash from the university — it happened because OSU President Walter Edward “Ted” Carter wanted it to happen.

Rookie speakers at OSU are typically chosen by Ohio State’s Speaker Advisory Committee, which uses a series of criteria to determine whether or not a speaker would be a good fit for the university. Qualifications such as “I am a good public speaker” and can “convey a meaningful and relevant message to our graduating students” are among those considered during the selection process.

Barack Obama, Neil Armstrong, Senator Sherrod Brown and Dr. Anthony Fauci have already given the university’s commencement address.

The Ohio State University football stadium, May 18, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP)

According to sources who spoke to The Rooster, the advisory committee creates a short list of candidates and sends them to the university president, but the president has the final say.

His last word was, apparently, Chris Pan.

That revelation was particularly troubling after Mr. Pan revealed in a now inaccessible social media post that Mr. Carter sits on the site Terawulf Board of Directors, a Bitcoin mining company. The original social media post can still be viewed on The Rooster.

“With @ohiostatepres – is on the board of zero carbon bitcoin mining company @terawulf and daughter does psychedelic assisted therapy!” Mr. Pan wrote.

OSU Assistant Vice President for Media and Public Relations Ben Johnson told The Independent that Mr. Pan was on this year’s nomination list.

“Chris Pan was on the nomination list, which includes nominations going back several years,” Johnson said. “President Carter met Chris Pan for the first time the night before commencement. They have no financial relationship. It is normal for university presidents to sit on public and private boards of directors.”

The Independent contacted Mr Pan.

Ohio State University President Walter Edward “Ted” Carter (Ohio State University)

Bitcoin enthusiasts on social media made it clear that they approved of the speech. A verified account called “The Bitcoin Therapist” shared a clip of Pan’s speech, including boos at the mention of Bitcoin, and celebrated the speech.

“OSU grad Chris Pan takes ayahuasca to write his graduation speech, then tells 60,000 people to buy #Bitcoin to protect their purchasing power,” the report reads he wrote. “What a damn legend.”

University spokesman Ben Johnson declined to comment on Pan’s mention of Bitcoin during the speech, but told the local broadcaster WCMH that the university does not approve the speeches, although officials read drafts of Mr. Pan’s notes.

An anonymous university official who spoke to The Rooster said Mr Pan was “the worst person I have ever worked with” when it came to preparing the commencement speech.

The source also revealed that early drafts of the speech included numerous references to Israel and Palestine – always a minefield as a topic, but especially so after the OSU. used the Ohio State Patrol dealing with Gaza protesters the previous week – and asked for the references to be removed.

If nothing else, the speech was, at the very least, memorable.

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