Pot-smoking son defends parents charged in admissions scandal: 'Everyone has a right to go to college'
The son of one of the couples charged in the college admissions scandal is defending his parents’ efforts to get his sister into a top university by paying her way there.
New York food and beverage distributor Gregory Abbott, along with his wife Marcia, was among the names reported to be a part of the recent cheating scandal — in which celebs Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among 46 people charged by the FBI in an elite college admission scheme. But now Gregory’s son, Malcolm Abbott, is getting involved by telling reporters that the whole ordeal has been overblown.
“They’re blowing this whole thing out of proportion,” Malcolm told the New York Post on Wednesday while outside of his family’s Fifth Avenue building in New York City, as he reportedly toked on a blunt (a hollowed-out cigar filled with marijuana). “I believe everyone has a right to go to college, man.”
[Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo’s newsletter.]
The son, a rapper who goes by the stage name “Billa,” added, “I didn’t go to college,” before going on to plug his music. “Check out my CD, ‘Cheese and Crackers,'” he said.
Later, Malcolm reemerged from the building, this time with his brother, who had previously made comments to the press, noting that his parents “got roped into [this by] some guy who f***ing cheated them.”
“They’re in their 60s, but they’re also … removed from the real world,” he told the New York Post on Tuesday. “They don’t f***ing understand this s***.”
The man that Gregory and Marcia’s son referred to is likely William “Rick” Singer, who has been named the mastermind of the scheme. According to authorities, the Abbotts paid Singer $125,000 to boost their daughter’s standardized test scores by paying off a test proctor. Her SAT score was inflated to a perfect 800 while her ACT was boosted to a near perfect score of 35.
The Abbotts appeared in court on Tuesday where their bail was set at $500,000 bond.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
• Critics slam Vogue’s ‘global talent’ cover starring Scarlett Johansson: ‘They still place the white woman in the center’
• Officer resigns after allegedly using police database to ask 150 women on dates: ‘This is truly a disturbing situation’
• School investigates bus aide who pulled a MAGA hat off student’s head: ‘She threatened me’
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
