An official with the UCLA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office was placed on leave after celebrating the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk by writing, “It’s okay to be happy when a racist who called for your eradication dies” on social media.
Sources at the college told the Los Angeles Times that Jonathan Perkins, director of race and equity, wrote in a series of since-deleted social media posts on Bluesky that “you can’t force people to mourn someone who hated us — no matter how he died,” in response to a post about Kirk’s killing last week, according to screenshots obtained by the Times.
“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, who is Black, reportedly added according to the Times.
In a statement on LinkedIn, which has since been deleted, Perkins wrote that he had received death threats because he “said it’s okay to be happy when a racist who called for your eradication dies.”
He added that he was placed on “investigative leave” while the university probes the complaints made about his social media posts, saying, “This is Project 2025. This is fascism at work.”
UCLA said in a statement that a “campus employee” was placed on leave due to social media posts made about Kirk following his death.
“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,” reads the statement, which did not identify Perkins as the employee.
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