“The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has fired a staff member who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s death in September social media posts,” reports Campus Reform:
Johnathan Perkins, the former director of race and equity at UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, says the school fired him on Monday, Jan. 12, according to The Daily Bruin, the school’s student-run newspaper.
“It is OKAY to be happy when someone who hated you and called for your people’s death dies—even if they are murdered,” Perkins said in a Bluesky post after Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10.
Perkins further wrote: “Dude made his bed; reaped what he sowed; chickens coming home to roost, etc. Smh.” In another post, Perkins said that “If Hell is real, Charlie Kirk is certainly in it now.”
“F**k Around and Find Out is really doing its thing, lately,” Perkins wrote. “I’m always glad when bigots die, so.”
Campus Reform reported in September that Perkins has a history of celebrating the deaths of people he disagrees with, including Queen Elizabeth II and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (who is still alive).
Following the comments, the university placed Perkins on administrative leave and announced an investigation. “While free expression is a core value of UCLA, violence of any kind — including the celebration of it — is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” a spokesman said at the time.
Now, the university has determined that Perkins’ post violated its policies and constitutes “serious misconduct.”
“Given the nature of your role as a Director of Race and Equity, the University has determined that this conduct significantly undermined trust in your leadership and adversely affected the Office’s effectiveness and credibility,” Ralina Joseph, the vice provost of inclusive excellence, wrote in a dismissal letter.
If Perkins were a faculty member — rather than an administrator — his offensive speech would likely be protected by the First Amendment. Faculty members have a First Amendment right to criticize Charlie Kirk, and even — in most cases — to celebrate his death. A university recently had to pay $500,000 for firing a professor for his remarks about Charlie Kirk. College professors have every right to criticize Charlie Kirk, even after his death.
But Perkins is a college administrator, not a professor. Federal appeals courts have distinguished between faculty members, who have academic freedom, and administrators, who do not have any such freedom in their administrative role. Thus, a federal appeals court ruled that a professor could be removed from his role as the chair of his department for antisemitic and racist speech, even though that same appeals court had earlier ruled that a professor (who did not have any administrative responsibilities) could not be punished for the racist nature of his writings about black people. (Compare Jeffries v. Harleston, 52 F.3d 9 (1995) with Levin v. Harleston, 966 F.2d 85 (1992)).
What Johnathan Perkins said about Charlie Kirk was mild compared to things that he said in the past, for which he was never disciplined. As Director of Race and Equity, Perkins advocated illegally denying white employees leave because of their race. Johnathan Perkins, also claimed that “every white person is racist to some degree”, and falsely claimed that “white people cannot be victims of racism,” and “only white people can impose racist harm.” These claims disregarded court rulings finding that whites can be victims of racism and nonwhites can act illegally in committing racist acts. Perkins tells whites not to wish him a “Happy Juneteenth” because he will “flip tf out” if they do. He reacted to the death of England’s Queen Elizabeth by saying,“Good riddance.”
