“Some of you has probably never even seen a black man before,” he said. “Allo.”

“Like the great civil rights leader Martin Luther Vandross, I has got a dream of little black girls and little white girls playing with each other,” he added.

Ali also mimed a sexual act in the course of a discussion of the relative merits of a Harvard degree and a Lexus, which he said were of similar economic value.

“Bet you’re well glad you brought your grandparents, innit?” he asked with a grin at one point.

And despite frequent references to Harvard, Ali ended his speech on a discordant note.

“Big up yaself, Princeton!” he shouted in his speech’s extended conclusion.

THE REST OF THE MOST CLEVEREST

Though Ali G’s brazen commentary formed the afternoon’s centerpiece, he was preceded and followed by an array of student, faculty and alum speakers.

Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 previewed today’s Commencement proceedings and thanked everyone for coming out to see him.

“I am especially grateful to Ali G,” he kidded. “This man flew across the Atlantic Ocean just to hear what I had to say. Thank you, Mr. G!”

Bahadu, meanwhile, told “the extremely good-looking Class of 2004” of his own take on race at Harvard.

Bahadu said that in the last four years, he has been mistaken on campus for black celebrities including Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Justin Timberlake, who is caucasian.

“The dude’s got some soul, so he’s going to be an honorary brother,” Bahadu said.

The marshal went on to promise that Prince’s Purple Rain would be played at all subsequent 2004 reunions.

The ceremony also included the awarding of two Ames awards. The leadership award was given to Christine D. Tran ’04 and George Lee ’04.