UCLA said a campus employee in the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion had been placed on leave while an investigation is conducted into social media posts about the death of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist fatally shot at Utah Valley University last week. The employee, Johnathan Perkins, who leads UCLA’s race and equity efforts, wrote on X that it is OKAY to be happy about Kirk’s death.
Perkins, who is Black, also posted messages on X and on BlueSky reacting to Kirk’s death. He wrote that he was glad Kirk was dead for his hate and responded to a commenter who suggested Kirk could be the right’s replacement for Rush Limbaugh with the line, “Good riddance to both.” In another BlueSky exchange, he appeared to reply “Why shouldn’t he be dead?” when a user suggested Kirk’s killing did not merit sadness. A social media post from Perkins celebrating Kirk’s murder circulated widely, according to notes on the case.
UCLA officials said in a statement Sunday that a campus employee had been placed on leave and that the school had launched an investigation into the social media posts. “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,” the statement read. Perkins himself later told the Los Angeles Times that the employee was him and insisted the posts were justified and protected by the First Amendment. “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,” Perkins told the paper. “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.”
Perkins joined UCLA in 2019 and also co-hosts the podcast “Black&.” A UCLA spokesperson declined to comment further to The Post. The case has drawn attention to how universities navigate the line between free speech and public condemnation of violence, particularly when staff publicly engage in provocative political discourse.
The incident comes as higher education institutions grapple with a charged climate around race, ideology and political extremism on campus, and questions about how staff expressions related to those issues should be handled in light of workplace and student safety concerns. The Post’s reporting drew on multiple outlets and was corroborated by related coverage from the Los Angeles Times. Caitlin McCormack contributed reporting.
