As it turns out, his song about a woman convicted of killing a cop, then becoming a fugitive in Cuba isn’t exactly the sort of thing state police officers appreciate.

According to the Associated Press as reported by The Guardian:

University removes Common as graduation speaker amid police outcry

New Jersey’s Kean University has cancelled hip-hop artist Common as commencement speaker after police voiced concerns over a song about a woman convicted of killing a police officer who fled to Cuba.

The school announced the Academy Award winner’s selection on Monday, but said on its social media sites on Tuesday night that he would not be the speaker.

A university spokeswoman, Susan Kayne, told the Record newspaper the announcement was made prematurely.

Common won an Academy Award for composing the song Glory for the 2014 film Selma.

The film’s director, Ava DuVernay, tweeted #Assata in support of the rapper.

“The students expressed interest in Common because he composed the Oscar-winning song Glory with our prior commencement speaker John Legend,” Kayne said. “While we respect his talent, Kean is pursuing other speaker options.”

New Jersey state police were troubled by the choice because of lyrics in Common’s 2000 recording A Song for Assata. The song is about Joanne Chesimard, who goes by the name Assata Shakur, and was convicted in 1977 of killing trooper Werner Foerster in 1973. She escaped from prison and has been living in Cuba as a fugitive.