Mayor De Blasio—or someone in his Department of Education—invited the foul-mouthed, misogynistic rapper Pitbull to join luminaries who will speak to the graduating class of 2020.
Here is the city’s announcement:
Dear Students and Families,
To celebrate the end of a school year like none before, please join us for a graduation celebration like none before the evening of Tuesday, June 30! We will be honoring the resilient, inspiring Class of 2020 with festivities that will be livestreamed across social media and broadcast on PIX 11 beginning at 7:00 p.m.
The event will feature the accomplishments of our graduating seniors, family messages, and congratulations from celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kenan Thompson, Nick Kroll, Nia Long, Pitbull, Angela Yee, and more. Mayor de Blasio and the First Lady, Chancellor Carranza, and other public officials and educators will also convey their words of appreciation to the largest graduating class in the nation who will be the changemakers in our nation’s future.
We hope you all will join us for a joyful occasion to conclude a difficult year on June 30. Please save the date and learn more at https://www.nycclassof2020.com.
Pitbull founded a mediocre charter school in Miami called Slam Academy. It operates as part of a for-profit chain. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos joined him there to show her delight that the rapper joined her crusade for school choice.
Jersey Jazzman wrote about the origins of Pitbull’s charter school in 2013.
Darcie Cimarusti wrote about a signal event when Pitbull was honored by the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools in 2013, which was thrilled to have a celebrity on its dais.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am so sick and tired of celebrities. Who cares about celebrities anyway? Celebrities are mostly empty people with a lot of glitz to hide behind.
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Oy! Agree, Yvonne!
But–not LeBron James. He’s a good one.
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Pitbull is an A-1 hustler. He used to be a drug dealer. Now he’s a “brand ambassador.” It is still hustling for cash. Pitbull knows how to take advantage of opportunistic deals like private charter schools that hold millions of dollars of tax free real estate in South Florida. Pitbull knows how to self promote and grab public tax dollars while he privatizes the profit. It is a lot less risky way to get rich than drug dealing. It is a theme in Florida where lax charter laws allow the privatizers to funnel millions of public dollars into their own pockets.
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I’ve used the line attributed to bank robber Willie Sutton in this context before, but it seems to bear repeating here. If Sutton were alive today, he’d be operating a charter, “because that’s where the money is.” Educators go into education to help educate others. Charter operators and most of their administrators don’t, they might as well be selling widgets.
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I hope this Pitbull gets neutered.
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What!?
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Slight correction: Pitbull’s school is called Slam Charter School. It has nothing to do with Slam Academy (slamacademy.com), which is my company. It is a super cool little electronic music school. Pitbull and his people are using our trademark illegally, and we are trying to negotiate with them to stop doing that. But it’s a big-dog / little-dog situation.
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