Don McLean, best known for his classic “American Pie,” was stripped of a lifetime achievement award on Monday only days after it was announced that he’d be receiving it.
The 73-year-old singer was going to accept the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement from the Student Alumni Association of UCLA on May 17.
But, in an email sent to the Press Herald, the Student Alumni Association said it was uninviting McLean. “The decision to rescind the award was made … upon learning that Mr. McLean had previously been convicted of domestic violence charges.”
McLean was arrested in January 2016 and charged with domestic violence against wife Patrisha McLean. He later pleaded guilty to domestic violence criminal threatening, criminal restraint, and criminal mischief. Charges of assault, terrorizing and obstructing the report of a crime were dismissed in July 2017 as part of the plea deal.
The couple divorced and Patrisha has become an advocate for victims of domestic abuse.
McLean’s publicist, who shared news of the award on Monday, called the reversal “disrespectful and grossly humiliating.”