Here's Who's on Felicity Huffman's Side — and Who Isn't
We're here today to announce charges in the largest college admission scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. We've charged 50 people nationwide, with participating in conspiracy that involved first cheating on college entrance exams, being the SAT and the ACT. And second, securing admission to elite colleges by bribing coaches at those schools to accept certain students under false pretenses. In return for bribes, these coaches agreed to pretend that certain applicants were recruited competitive athletes. When in fact, the applicants were not, as the coaches knew. The student's athletic credentials had been fabricated. Overall today we have charged three people who organized these scams, two SAT or ACT exam administrators, one exam proctor, one college administrator Nine coaches at elite schools and 33 parents who paid enormous sums to guarantee their children's admission to certain schools through the use of bribes and fake academic and athletic credentials. A central defendant and scheme William Singer, Will plead guilty today to charges of racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and obstruction of justice. Singer allegedly ran a college counseling service and something called the Key World Wide Foundation, between roughly 2011 and 2018. Wealthy parents paid Singer about $25 million in total.
Many people are criticizing Felicity Huffman's involvement in Operation Varsity Blues, but the actor does have some supporters, too. While it may seem tough to stand beside someone who paid $15,000 to have her daughter's SAT score boosted by 400 points, her Desperate Housewives costar Joely Fisher did offer a shoulder to lean on and some insight into why Huffman may have done what she did. It comes down to parents wanting their kids to have a bright future, she explained. According to People, Fisher posted a tribute photo with a lengthy caption illuminating just how far she'd go for her own children.
In the caption to her now-removed post, Fisher explains that she's conflicted over the whole situation, but sees things from both sides. Not only are her famous friends involved, which makes things more complicated, but Fisher, too, is a mom, and says she can relate to wanting the best for her kids.
“I have been holding my tongue about #varsityblues mostly because as friends appeared on screen … although I am outspoken if not militant on just about everything … this is quandary central. Chris [Duddy, Fisher's husband] asked me today if, 'pre-embezzlement' I would have done anything to get one of our girls into the college of their dreams. Truth is I would do just about anything for our children (short of federal crime)."
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"As I pondered this I thought back to the beauty, the talent, the camaraderie, the early day red carpets, the desperation, the exhilaration. I thought about all of us girls having our babies at the same time and being filled with the anticipation of doing all of this better than our parents. We were progressive, yoga mamas, breastfeeding ninjas … not even thinking about where they would go to college. Today I saw her, I read the charges … would I have done what these parents have done to 'improve' the future of their child’s life? The answer is perhaps … perhaps if what they have done is an improvement."
Vanity Fair reports that playwright David Mamet, who criticized the entire college admissions procedure as a whole, offered words of support in an open letter published in The Hollywood Reporter.
"I'm crazy about them both," Mamet wrote. "That a parent's zeal for her children's future may have overcome her better judgment for a moment is not only unfortunate, it is, I know we parents would agree, a universal phenomenon."
Olivia Munn took a different stance. The actor called out parents who would spend the money to send their kids to top-tier schools when the students themselves have little or no interest.
"The irony will be that these parents spent all this money to hustle into top universities and are now in the middle of this shit show just to find out in a few years that their kids only have dreams of being an influencer," she tweeted on Tuesday.
What these parents did wasn't for love, it was for fancy diplomas. Love would've made you spend that money on tutors to make your kids smarter, giving them an actual education.
— Olivia Munn (@oliviamunn) March 14, 2019
The irony will be that these parents spent all this money to hustle into top universities and are now in the middle of this shit show just to find out in a few years that their kids only have dreams of being an influencer ????
— Olivia Munn (@oliviamunn) March 12, 2019
RELATED: People Have a LOT to Say on Twitter About the College Admissions Scam
Rob Lowe also threw some shade, though it's tough to find now. The Huffington Post reports that Lowe tweeted and deleted after he wrote "very proud of my honest, hardworking sons" as a comment on his son's tweet. Lowe's sons, John Owen and Matthew, attended Stanford and Duke, respectively.
And let me say: I’m incredibly grateful that I had the privilege and opportunity to have a tutor and to afford practice test programs. A lot of kids don’t. And to think of them losing their chance at their dream school to someone undeserving is really, really gross.
— John Owen Lowe (@Johnny_L0we) March 12, 2019
RELATED: Could Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman Go to Jail Over the College Admissions Scandal?
John Legend told Entertainment Tonight that abuses in the school system have been systemic.
"But the bottom line is, the system has been rigged for wealthy people for a long time," he said. "The admissions system rewards people's parents being wealthy and people's parents having gone to a certain school. There's a lot of legal ways to do that that still aren't really that fair to a lot of other people."
