J.R. Majewski blamed “my website guy” for now-removed “magna cum laude” credential -- but he made same claim on his show

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published

Former right-wing streamer and Ohio GOP House nominee J.R. Majewski recently blamed “my website guy” for the now-removed claim that he graduated “magna cum laude” with a master’s degree. But on his defunct program, Majewski himself said, “I graduated with a magna cum laude for my master's degree.”

HuffPost’s Liz Skalka reported today that Majewski exaggerated his academic credentials, noting that his website biography previously claimed that he graduated “magna cum laude” with a master’s degree from Colorado Tech. She added that Majewski “has since scrubbed any reference to graduating with honors. Asked about it this week, his campaign sent photos of diplomas from Colorado Technical University, a private, for-profit school offering online and in-person degree programs.”

Majewski told the Toledo Blade in an October 8 article that his “website guy” was at fault for writing that he graduated magna cum laude: 

“My website guy, who doesn't have a degree, wrote Magna Cum Laude for my master's degree,” Mr. Majewski explained. “Just like he put the Air Force logo on my website, just like he put the Project Management Professional logo on my website. He's just a regular guy from Port Clinton that didn't know any better, and he was trying to make it look as good as possible.”

But Majewski said that he graduated “magna cum laude” on the January 30, 2021, edition of his Earcandy show, saying: “I'm glad I got my master's degree and got the fuck out because I couldn't do — I mean, I remember, you know, I graduated with a magna cum laude for my master's degree.”

From the January 30, 2021, edition of Earcandy

Majewski’s claim about “my website guy” continues a pattern of misrepresentations in the media. 

He previously claimed to the Blade that he “never read any QAnon drop.” In fact, he was on a QAnon program and discussed “Q” drops. He also said on Earcandy: “I believe in everything that’s been put out from Q.” 

The Associated Press recently documented that Majewski misrepresented his military service by claiming he deployed to Afghanistan. (Media Matters found numerous instances in which he made the claim in the media.) The AP also documented “mischaracterizations” in “his professional career, in which he has repeatedly described himself as an ‘executive in the nuclear power industry.’”

Majewski’s campaign further claimed “he was punished and demoted after getting in a ‘brawl’ in an Air Force dormitory in 2001. Military records obtained since then by The Associated Press, however, offer a different account of the circumstances, which military legal experts say would have played a significant role in the decision to bar him from reenlisting. They indicate Majewski’s punishment and demotion were the result of him being stopped for driving drunk on a U.S. air base in Japan in September 2001.”