| Ali G raises eyebrows on Harvard Class Day TV host
makes crowd squirm
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Correspondent, 6/10/2004 Harvard's graduation exercises took a turn for the risque yesterday, as the British comedian Ali G barraged thousands of sweltering students and their parents with a mix of slang, satire, and NC-17 material. Speaking at Class Day, a traditionally lighthearted event that precedes today's graduation ceremony, the faux-gangster rapper emerged to loud cheers clad in a crimson vinyl track suit and skull cap. Ropes of chain hung around his neck. ''Professor G in the house, a'ight!" he yelled triumphantly. ''You is da most cleverestest students in America," he said to the crowd gathered amid the stately brick buildings of Harvard Yard. But after praising Harvard's ''brain boxes," the speech quickly digressed (or in Mr. G's words, ''digested") into an uneven rant that ranged from hotel-room porn movies to the ''bling" awaiting Harvard students in the future. ''I thought it was funny, but I thought he crossed the line a couple of times," said Javier Valle, a graduating senior. ''My mom may have squirmed a little bit." Students, friends, parents, and grandparents had already been sitting in the 90-degree heat for over an hour, listening to student speakers praise and gently mock Harvard and themselves. Class Marshal Shaka Bahadu's earlier instructions to ''sit back, relax, and sweat some more" became particularly relevant as Ali G got into his shtick. A self-described ''hip-hop journalist" who specializes in derailing politicians and other VIPs with inane questions on British TV and HBO, Ali G -- real name Sacha Baron Cohen -- actually graduated from Cambridge University. His speech yesterday touched on Harvard's $38,000 a year price tag and briefly mentioned the melting ice caps, absentee fathers, the lure of Wall Street, and the state of the family -- but each serious issue was spun into something humorous and borderline offensive, and he peppered his speech with sexual gestures and misogynistic jokes. Some students clasped their hands over their mouths in both amusement and shock. ''Really regretting bringing your grandparents now, aren't you?" he asked several times. It was a far cry from the eloquent student speeches. It also marked a new extreme for Harvard's roster of Class Day speakers, an eclectic group that over the years has included Mother Teresa, Walter Cronkite, Rodney Dangerfield, and the singer Bono. Last year, the comedian Will Ferrell made fun of Harvard and then funneled a beer. After speaking, when Ali G returned to the stage to receive an honorary gift from the student body, a policeman accompanied him and he held his hands behind his back as if handcuffed. ''Police brutality," he joked before lifting a shot glass with several members of the class of 2004 for a celebratory toast. This story ran on page B7 of the Boston Globe on 6/10/2004.
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