Wendell Pierce
Wendell Pierce (Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images for HBO)
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Rutgers-Newark commencement speaker Wendell Pierce has decided to not address the graduates on Wednesday following his arrest in Atlanta.

"This morning Rutgers University – Newark was informed by actor and humanitarian Wendell Pierce that in order to assure that commencement 2016 will be a celebration of the accomplishments of our students free of distractions, he is declining to join us and consequently must decline the conferral of an honorary degree," read an email from Peter T. Englot, the school's Senior Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs and Chief of Staff.

News producer and anchor Soledad O'Brien will address the class instead.

The former star of HBO's "The Wire," was selected to receive a honorary doctor of humane letters in recognition of "drawing attention to the pressing issues of urban America." He was arrested early Saturday at the Loews Atlanta Hotel. According to Fulton County, Georgia jail records, Pierce was charged with simple battery and released on $1,000.

In a report Atlanta Police said a woman and her two friends were sitting in a hotel hallway when Pierce and his girlfriend exited the elevator. "Both groups of parties began a conversation about politics, which got Mr. Pierce upset," the report states. The woman police identify as the victim in the case told officers that Pierce began to push her, and she and her friends then began to walk to their room. Pierce acknowledges in the report that he followed them to their room, but disputes what happened next.

TMZ reported that the incident happened during an argument Pierce, a Hillary Clinton supporter, got into with a woman who supports Bernie Sanders.

An online petition created by Rutgers-Newark students Eric Goldman of Summit and Raynier Matias requested Pierce not speak at commencement. After learning that  Pierce dropped out of commencement Goldman said he was happy at the news." A lot of students at our university come from disadvantaged backgrounds. It would really be a shame to a lot of these people who worked really hard to get their degree to have him be their commencement speaker," said the business major. He the school is at a "weird point" as the semester is over and students are not on campus. He hopes his petition played a small part in Pierce backing out.

Replacement speaker O'Brien is :"really an accomplished reporter and I'm really excited to hear what she has to say,": Goldman said,

"By allowing him to speak at commencement Rutgers-Newark would be condoning his actions," the students wrote.

In announcing his selection, the university said that Pierce “in his person and in his professional ethos and accomplishments, represents some of the most cherished aspirations we hold for our students at Rutgers University – Newark (RU-N)." A course based on the show, "The Wire: Black Lives Matter,” examined many of the social and political issues the show highlighted during its 2002-2008 run and compared them to today. Pierce played Detective William "Bunk" Moreland on the Baltimore-based show.

Pierce played the role of Supreme Court Justice Clarance Thomas in the movie "Confirmed" and Antoine Batiste in the series "Treme," both which also aired on HBO.  He most recently played Teddy in the the CBS reboot of the classic sitcom "The Odd Couple."

Human rights activist Radhika Coomaraswamy will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at Wednesday's commencement at the Prudential Center in Newark.

President Barack Obama was the speaker for Rutgers University's main commencement ceremony in Piscataway Sunday, during which he encouraged students to turn away from "ignorance" — and took jabs at Donald Trump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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