Mary J. Blige is an Unfunny Michael Scott

When most people think of Mary J. Blige, they don’t think of Michael Scott.

Mary J. Blige is one of the most successful female singer-songwriters of the last two decades.

Michael Scott is a fictional character from The Office played by Steve Carrell.

On paper, you’d think the only thing these two have in common is that they’re both people (albeit one of them fictional).

As it turns out, they’ve got a lot more in common, namely promising scholarships they can’t deliver on.

Blige promised full-ride scholarships to 25 students who graduated from the Women’s Academy of Excellence in the Bronx, but has come up short on fulfilling that promise.

Here’s the scoop from the New York Post:

The problems began the very first year, when the charity barely covered the tuition with a late $5,392 payment. This year, despite desperate calls, the charity paid nothing.

It turns out that Blige’s scholarship program, like the rest of the deadbeat diva’s charity operation, is in shambles, leaving a trail of broken promises and dashed dreams among a group of desperate Bronx teens.

Blige’s real-life scholarship snafu is almost identical to an episode of The Office where we learn that Michael Scott made a similar promise to a class of underprivileged students and was inevitably unable to pay for any of their tuitions upon their successful completion of high school.

It was funny, in the usual cringe-worthy way, when it happened on television.

It is decidedly less funny when a multi-millionaire comes up short and leaves a slew of women in the tough situation of taking out exorbitant loans or dropping out of college altogether.

Here’s hoping that Blige and her charity get their shit together before they permanently screw-up the future for these 25 women.