Don McLean Slams UCLA 'Morons' Over Award Fiasco

Singer blasts university after honor is announced, then rescinded
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 7, 2019 7:52 PM CDT
Don McLean in Weird Feud With UCLA
In this Dec. 13, 2016 file photo, Don McLean performs during a taping of Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Rise Telethon in Nashville, Tenn.   (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

The UCLA Student Alumni Association decided to present Don McLean with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement on May 17 in Los Angeles. But just hours after the 73-year-old singer announced Monday that he would be receiving the award, the honor was rescinded, the Portland Press Herald reports. The newspaper notes that the reversal came after the Press Herald alerted the association to McLean's 2016 domestic violence incident, and in a statement, a UCLA exec said "the decision to rescind the award was made ... upon learning that Mr. McLean had previously been convicted of domestic violence charges." A publicist for McLean initially said the move was "publicly disrespectful and grossly humiliating," and now McLean himself has responded on Facebook.

"Dear UCLA," the "American Pie" singer wrote in his first post on the matter, "you awarded me your George and Ira Gershwin life time achievement award and then took it back because you found out about my squabble with my ex wife. This has been all over the internet for 3 years. Are you people morons? This is settled law." A later post added, among other things, "At what point is a misdemeanor infraction paid for? I paid the fines ... I obeyed the court and I have never had any trouble with the law before or since and yet it continues. Is it a life sentence? A life sentence for a screaming match at the end of 30 years? ... I intend to reveal all I know about this situation very soon. I have kept quiet for three years. Newly discovered police and hospital reports will support what I say and they will be made public." (More Don McLean stories.)

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