Ben Stiller found the humor in the ongoing college admissions scandal during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show . As Us Weekly reports, Stiller brought his daughter to the taping, and she sat in the audience. At one point, the actor mentioned that they’d been touring colleges, and quipped — “She is going to Yale on a full football scholarship. And she’s going to major in Photoshop.”
The joke is an obvious reference to the federal investigation into college admissions fraud that has been nicknamed “Varsity Blues.” So far, more than 50 individuals have been indicted as a result of the probe, and the list includes actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Fuller House alum Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, allegedly paid a company $500,000 to get their daughters into the University of Southern California. They were admitted as members of the school’s rowing team, although the two girls have reportedly never participated in the sport.
After his joke, Stiller talked about the “pressure” parents feel when it comes to getting their children into college.
“I mean, look, there’s crazy pressure that the kids go through and the parents go through, but obviously, you gotta draw the line,” he said.
Both Loughlin and Huffman have likely been feeling lots of pressure since the news about the scandal broke. As AOL reports, Huffman was arrested for allegedly paying a $15,000 bribe to an SAT exam proctor in order to alter her daughter’s incorrect answers on the test. Unlike Loughlin, Huffman’s husband — Shameless star William H. Macy — was not indicted.
Another article from Us Weekly claims that Loughlin and Huffman have not even fully “grasped” the fact that they’ve been charged with these crimes.
“They were caught red-handed in this FBI sting, but they’re both trying to justify it as something any parent would do for their child,” a source in Huffman’s camp said to Us Weekly . “They’re loving moms who allegedly broke the law by cheating the system, so now they could be considered criminals.”
Ben Stiller reveals how he started playing Michael Cohen on #SNL https://t.co/Q5h1dezbwo pic.twitter.com/Qo3uC4ThG4
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 22, 2019
The indictment has already tarnished Lori Loughlin’s career. As USA Today reports, she’s been fired by the Hallmark Channel after a long career of appearing in many of their programs. Daughter Olivia Jade’s once-burgeoning social media influencer career looks like it has gone up in smoke, too. As the article notes, Olivia Jade used to have a sponsorship deal with Sephora, and had they sold a palette with her name on it. However, according to a recent statement from the brand, their business partnership is over.
As for Ben Stiller’s daughter, the actor told Ellen DeGeneres that she really wants to be an actress.