Former President Barack Obama was forced to cancel a planned trip to Harvard this week.
According to CBS News, Obama reportedly had flu-like symptoms and scrapped the trip out of an abundance of caution.
He was set to visit the university's Applied Social Media Lab in Cambridge for the "Future of the Internet Summit" at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, the outlet noted.
Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991.
The Applied Social Media Lab released a statement through it's X account on Wednesday, confirming the former president's sudden cancellation.
"UPDATE: The president woke up this morning with COVID-like symptoms. Out of an abundance of caution, he is not attending his public events today. The Summit is continuing as planned featuring his Senior Advisor on Technology, Jason @goldman," it wrote.
UPDATE: The president woke up this morning with COVID-like symptoms. Out of an abundance of caution, he is not attending his public events today. The Summit is continuing as planned featuring his Senior Advisor on Technology, Jason @goldman
— Applied Social Media Lab (@TheLabBKC) October 18, 2023
Goldman, in a statement, added, "He’s very sorry to miss this because he is deeply committed to the work of the lab and a big believer that this conversation in terms of how the future of the internet needs to evolve is timely and completely relevant for the moment that we’re in."
Fox News noted:
Harvard described the new lab as a “first-of-its-kind university hub for technologists seeking to break away from the social media industry and use their skills to assess and build new products and protocols that serve the public.”
At the time of this writing, there were no further updates on the severity of Obama's symptoms.
Some social media users speculated that Obama abruptly canceled the trip due to the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests erupting on college campuses, including Harvard, in the wake of the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel two weeks ago.
As pro-Hamas protests erupt at major universities @PennState @Harvard, etc. we are hearing about hateful shouts that essentially amount to advocating the genocide of Jews. Since “hate” is not tolerated on these campuses, should these protestors lose their scholarships? #Israel 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/oTmGIdHcU9
— David Burke 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 (@ConservativeTht) October 13, 2023
"BS, he's afraid the protesters will expect him to join them, what a conundrum. Obama has always been against Israel, so he's got to hide under a rock now," one X user wrote.
Protests continue as Israel prepares for an imminent ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to root out Hamas terrorists.
