Actor addresses Rolling Stone rape scandal in UVA speech
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Ed Helms, who is best known for his character Andy Bernard on The Office, addressed the University of Virginia’s graduating class on Friday. He delivered a funny yet inspiring speech while commenting on the recent “Rolling Stone” rape allegations scandal.
“Rolling Stone tried to define you this year,” he said. “As a result, not only was this community thrown deep into turmoil, but the incredibly important struggle to address sexual violence on campuses nationwide was suddenly more confusing than ever and needlessly set back.”
In November 2014, the magazine published, “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA.” The story was later retracted.
Helms then proceeded to spread the message, “Never let others define you, define yourselves.”
“How many times do we label people with our first impressions only to be proven wrong?” he asked. “The tattooed motorcycle guy who turns out to be a teddy bear, the buttoned-up co-worker who actually knows how to party, or the mousy librarian who takes off her glasses to reveal that she’s a bloodthirsty alien from a distant galaxy.”
“This community didn’t fall for the fallacy that just because Rolling Stone was wrong everything here must be perfectly peachy,” he continued. “You all had the courage to understand you can be outraged at Rolling Stone and still ask yourselves hard questions: When sexual violence does occur in our community, do we have the best possible protocols and resources available to our students? And UVA is charging forward to answer those questions, and you should be proud of that.”
Watch the speech above and comment below or on our Facebook page with what you think.