BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- UCLA placed Johnathan Perkins, director of the DEI office's race and equity division, on leave after he made controversial social media comments celebrating the murder of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
- Perkins' posts included statements like it being acceptable to be happy about Kirk's death and questioning why he shouldn't be dead, prompting UCLA to initiate an investigation and remove content from their DEI website.
- Perkins has a history of making inflammatory remarks, previously expressing hopes for the death of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
UPDATED
The University of California at Los Angeles has put its DEI office’s director of race and equity on leave following vulgar remarks about the death of Charlie Kirk.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, the school noted Johnathan Perkins is on “immediate leave and [it] has launched an investigation” into the situation.
UCLA added “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.”
Earlier, UCLA had taken down the “Who We Are” section of its Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion website following Perkins’ posts.
Perkins had written on the social media platform BlueSky that “It is OKAY to be happy when someone who hated you and called for your people’s death dies — even if they are murdered.”
In reaction to the oft-missing-context Kirk quote about the Second Amendment, Perkins wrote “Dude made his bed; reaped what he sowed; chickens coming home to roost, etc. Smh.”
Other remarks included “Fuck Around and Find Out is really doing its thing, lately,” “I’m always glad when bigots die, so,” and in response to someone saying Kirk “shouldn’t be dead” Perkins asked “Why shouldn’t he be dead?”
Perkins eventually deactivated his BlueSky account, Corey DeAngelis reported on X.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Perkins said in an email “It’s a truly sad day. My livelihood could ultimately be threatened for stating, in the clearest terms, that I felt no grief at the death of an avowed white nationalist — [a] man who dedicated his life to despising mine, to despising my people, to despising our very existence.
“I am devastated to learn of higher ed colleagues around the country, facing similar and much worse consequences, including termination. I admit, I thought UCLA was different. I hope we are.”
According to his Linkedin page, some of Perkins’ duties at the UCLA Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion include “implement[ing] equitable and evidence-based best practices relating to improving learning and working environments” and “designing measures to prioritize long-term, antiracist improvement to institutional systems, climate, and environments.”
Perkins has made questionable remarks in the past; in 2022 he wrote “No one wants to openly admit [we all] hope Clarence Thomas dies,” and added the “whole rule we’re not to wish ill on people is silly.”
In the same thread he said “Uncle Thomas is a sexist token who’s committed himself to making us all share in he and his treasonous wife’s misery.”
Also that year, Perkins wrote “Good riddance, colonizer” in response to news of Queen Elizabeth’s death.
In 2023 he wrote white people “should NOT be awarded the day off for Juneteenth,” noting whites get the holiday because “‘equality’ (identical treatment) is a MUCH more easily attainable goal than ‘equity’ (actual fairness).”
And last year, The Washington Free Beacon reported Perkins claimed Jews “enjoy the benefits of whiteness,” and asked whether people would support Israel “if the Jewish people persecuted in the Holocaust are not also considered ‘white.'”
UPDATE: Perkins’ statement to the LA Times was added.
