UCLA placed its director of race and equity on administrative leave after posts on the BlueSky social platform that appeared to celebrate the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
The university said it had launched an investigation after the posts surfaced and reiterated that while free expression is a core value, violence or celebration of violence is "completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated." The account, believed to belong to Johnathan Perkins, has been deleted from the platform.
Perkins acknowledged to the Los Angeles Times that he wrote the messages "in my own hand, in my own voice," and said they were not the echo of UCLA. He told the newspaper he was "devastated" by the university's response and said his "livelihood could ultimately be threatened for stating, in the clearest terms, that I felt no grief at the death of an avowed white nationalist." In posts attributed to him on BlueSky, the account said it was "OKAY to be happy when someone who hated you and called for your people's death dies - even if they are murdered," and described the killing as "good riddance." Those posts were reported to have appeared two days after Kirk was shot on Utah Valley University's campus.
UCLA placed Perkins on leave as its Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion reviewed the posts. A university spokesperson emphasized the distinction between protected speech and content that endorses or celebrates violence. Perkins, who joined UCLA in 2019 as director of race and equity and has worked in the university's Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, reportedly earns an annual salary of about $125,920.
Perkins has a public record of earlier controversies that drew scrutiny while he worked in higher education. He first trained as a lawyer at the University of Virginia and later worked in Harvard's Office of the General Counsel. In 2011, while a law student at the University of Virginia, Perkins published an account alleging a racially motivated stop by campus police; he subsequently retracted that account, saying he had written it to draw attention to police misconduct, and later again clarified the matter. In recent years he attracted criticism for posting unverified claims about the Princess of Wales after her cancer diagnosis and for a 2022 tweet that appeared to express the wish that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas die while hospitalized. UCLA previously said those comments did not reflect the views of its EDI office.
Perkins also co-hosts a podcast called Black&. He told the Los Angeles Times he had deactivated several social media accounts and, in a since-deleted LinkedIn post, said he had been doxed and had received multiple death threats following the Kirk posts.
Law enforcement in Utah arrested a suspect, identified in reporting as Tyler Robinson, on suspicion of aggravated murder in the Kirk shooting; prosecutors were preparing a capital murder charge that could carry the death penalty, according to reporting. The posts attributed to Perkins were published after the shooting and before the arrest.
University officials have stressed that disciplinary or administrative responses will be governed by campus policies and any applicable laws. The investigation will consider whether the posts violated university standards or policies related to workplace conduct and the promotion of a safe campus environment.
The suspension comes amid heightened national scrutiny of speech by university officials and of campus responses to political violence. Free-speech advocates and civil-rights groups have differed over where institutions should draw lines between protected political expression and statements that endorse or celebrate violence. UCLA's statement framed the matter within that tension, affirming free expression while condemning any endorsement of violence.
Perkins has not indicated whether he will formally contest the leave or what disciplinary process he anticipates. UCLA did not provide a timetable for the investigation or say what interim steps it had taken beyond the leave. The university and Perkins did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment beyond the statements reported to the Los Angeles Times and campus communications.
The case highlights ongoing challenges for universities as they navigate employee speech on social media, the distinction between personal and institutional expression, and safety concerns stemming from highly charged political events. Administrations must balance constitutional protections, institutional codes of conduct and community safety as they consider personnel actions in response to public statements by staff members.