Justin Combs, son of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, took to Twitter this week to defend his full scholarship to UCLA, which the school confirmed this week. Many in cyberspace are questioning whether the multimillionaire's son should have accepted the $54,000 football scholarship, given the school's economic troubles.
But the 18-year-old said he earned the scholarship.
"Regardless what the circumstances are, I put that work in!!!! PERIOD," he tweeted on May 30. "Regardless of what you do in life every1 is gonna have their own opinion," he tweeted. "Stay focused, keep that tunnel vision & never 4get why u started."
Combs, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound defensive back, reportedly graduated from New York's New Rochelle Iona Prep with a 3.75 GPA, according to the Los Angeles Times.
UCLA defended its decision, saying Combs' award was not siphoned from need-based scholarships to other students.
Athletic scholarships are "entirely funded by Athletic Department ticket sales, corporate partnerships, media contracts and private donations" and "do not rely on state funds," university spokesman Ricardo Vazquez told the Times.
"There is a big separation between financial aid based on need and how that's funded and how athletic scholarships are funded and awarded to students," he added.
Beenie Man's Respect for Gays and Lesbians
The controversy of internationally recognized Reggae artist, Beenie Man's anti-gay songs, which he penned twenty years ago, continues to follow him everywhere he is scheduled to perform. Today, he has developed a newfound respect for gays and lesbians. A few days ago, at a concert in the Rototam Sunsplash (www.rototomsunsplash.com) in Spain, expressed to concert-goers in a video message:
"I respect each and every human being, regardless of which race or creed, regardless of which religious belief and regardless of which sexual preference you have, including gay and lesbian people."
In recent years, Beenie has been the subject of several protests from gay communities on an international scale. Between the years 2004 to 2010, several demonstrations all over the world, prevented him from performing and led him to cancel his concerts. Today, Beenie understands the severity behind the degrading lyrics from his past songs. He reflected on the poor decisions he has made as a young artist publicly at his most recent performance. He said to his audience:
"Do not fight against me for some of the songs I sung 20 years ago. There is no one in this world who is the same person they were 20 years ago, I know I'm not. I was a kid when I came from Waterhouse in one community. I never knew what the world was like and what the world was all about. Now, I know that there are people in the world that live differently from the way I do. I know I still have to respect and love human beings."
