This post was updated Sept. 17 at 12:00 p.m.
UCLA put an official in its office of equity, diversity and inclusion on administrative leave after he made social media posts celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The EDI office’s “Who We Are” webpage appeared to be taken down as of 10 p.m. on Sept. 15. The page previously included a list of the office’s staff – including Johnathan Perkins, his contact and a short biography.
UCLA Media Relations did not respond in time to a request for comment on the removal of the webpage.
Perkins, the EDI office’s director of race and equity, appeared to have posted comments celebrating the death of Kirk – a right-wing conservative commentator – on social media platform Bluesky. Perkins’ comments came two days after Kirk was shot dead at Utah Valley University – the first stop of his The American Comeback Tour, where he planned to debate students at college campuses across the country – on Wednesday.
Screenshots of Perkins’ comments have been reposted by conservatives condemning the comments on social media.
“If Hell is real, Charlie Kirk is certainly in it now,” one of Perkins’ posts said.
Perkins, a Black man, also appeared to comment: “It is OKAY to be happy when someone who hated you and called for your people’s death dies—even if they are murdered.”
UCLA issued a statement Sunday that disclosed the university put an employee on leave due to their comments regarding the death of Charlie Kirk, but did not name Perkins. University sources confirmed to the LA Times that Perkins was the employee put on leave.
“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 said.
The Sunday announcement followed UCLA’s Saturday statement that condemned “inappropriate comments that have been posted on personal social media accounts about the death of Charlie Kirk.” The statement added that UCLA “initiated an investigation” into statements that “celebrate or condone violence,” but did not provide additional details.
Perkins said in a LinkedIn statement – which has since been deleted – that he deactivated all of his social media accounts excluding Instagram because of harassment, including death threats and doxxing. He added in the post that he believes critics targeted him because he “said it’s okay to be happy when a racist who called for your eradication dies.”
The former Havard attorney alleged in the post that UCLA placing him on “investigative leave” was “fascism at work.”
Perkins was an employee of UCLA’s office of EDI, which is dedicated to “enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion; protecting civil rights; and upholding dignity for all in our community,” according to its website.
Both UC President James Milliken and UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk condemned Kirk’s murder, which Milliken called “tragic and reprehensible” in a Wednesday statement.
“This wasn’t just an attack on an individual; it was an attack on the very freedoms we as a nation hold dear,” Milliken added. “This is a very sad day.”
Milliken also said at a Wednesday UC Board of Regents meeting that Kirk’s death violated the UC’s fundamental principles – including the right for every person to be safe on a school campus and the right to freedom of speech.
“It doesn’t matter in the slightest what your political beliefs are or whether you think someone else is right or wrong,” he said. “You can ignore a speaker, you can argue with them, you attempt to convince others you are on the side of right. What you cannot do in a civilized society is use physical violence against someone with whom you disagree. This is not just my view – it is the foundation upon which great societies and great universities, such as the University of California, are built.”
