Justin Bieber gets graduation ceremony from Ellen DeGeneres

By Matt Donnelly

May 23, 2012 12 AM PT

It’s one thing to land a celebrity as a commencement speaker upon graduation. When you’re Justin Bieber, however, celebs stage the entire ceremony.

This was the case on Wednesday as Ellen DeGeneres welcomed the pop star to perform his hit “Boyfriend,” and threw in a last-minute surprise: a cap-and-gown rite of passage to celebrate Bieber’s completion of his GED requirements.

“I know you graduated two weeks ago and you really didn’t have a traditional graduation ceremony. So I’m going to give you one right now,” Ellen said (video clip below).

“Before we begin, I know how important your hair is,” Ellen said, providing Bieber with an apparatus that held a tasseled cap just above his coif.

A stage, podium and even an audience of his mother, Pattie Malette, and manager, Scooter Braun, completed the moment.

“We’re here to honor the accomplishments of the Biebs, a great American who happens to be from Canada. Justin, you finally made it, you’re graduating and I’m so proud of you, because I always said, ‘There ain’t nothing more better than an education,’ ” DeGeneres joked.

Bieber completed his studies the first week of May, an effort made soley to please mom Malette.

“That was something my mom really wanted me to do, so I had to do it for her,” Bieber said.