Maz Jobrani, the famous Iranian-American stand-up comedian, graced the commencement exercise of the University of California (UC) Berkeley. In his speech, he took a swing at anti-immigrant sentiments but delivered it in both funny and serious manners.
Speaking in front of over 45, 000 people at the California Memorial Stadium, Maz Jobrani appeared to be calm and at perfectly at home. The audience also included native speakers of Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin, Farsi, and Hindi. The actor, according to Berkeley News, started with the phrase "I am the American dream".
Maz Jobrani then acknowledged the beauty of the mix of people present during the graduation rites. For the record, he graduated from UC Berkeley in 1993 with degrees in political science and Italian. In the venue, 5,500 UC Berkeley seniors stood out in black caps and gowns as they marched onto the field with smartphones in their hands.
On the other hand, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks described UC Berkeley as the most important school not just for quality education but also for the values it upholds. Dirks mentioned about the threats the campus faces such as the stagnant state funding and the reduced federal funding for research. He ended with a statement telling students the UC Berkeley still needs the alumni after they leave the school.
Per Time, which published a copy of the speech of Jobrani, showed how the actor warned the audience about the dangers of censorship. He urged the people to defend free speech rather than attacking it. Winding down, Jobrani asked the graduates to travel, no to popular tourist spots, but to Muslim countries.
Jobrani noted that Muslims are "not out to get them". He then joked that Muslim people only want them to buy a rug. Thus, Jobrani reminded the students to "never pay full price" and "always negotiate". The crowd laughed after that.
Well, for his closing remark, Jobrani reminded students to always kiss their parents. The youth should always kiss their parents especially when they are immigrants because tomorrow they might be deported. The crown laughed one more time. Below is the official video of the speech from UC Berkeley Educational Technology Services:
