Professor Who Wished Queen 'Excruciating' Death Is Rebuked By University
Carnegie Mellon professor Uju Anya wished Queen Elizabeth II “excruciating” pain before the royal’s death Thursday, generating backlash from the Pittsburgh university and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
When the palace announced the queen’s condition had worsened, Anya tweeted: “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.” Twitter deleted the post for violating its standards.
It appears that Twitter has deleted this tweet by Uju Anya for violating the Twitter rules. pic.twitter.com/bjtW6RtodK
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) September 8, 2022
Carnegie Mellon, where Anya is an associate professor of modern languages, criticized her for “offensive and objectionable messages” and accused her of violating “standards of discourse we seek to foster.”
A statement regarding recent social media posts by Uju Anya. pic.twitter.com/NinpPa4rZg
— Carnegie Mellon University (@CarnegieMellon) September 8, 2022
Anya, from Nigeria, which was under British rule until 1960, explained earlier that she would not back down from her remarks. She accused the queen of overseeing a government “that massacred and displaced half my family.”
If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.
— Uju Anya (@UjuAnya) September 8, 2022
Anya’s tweets also provoked a response from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
“This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow,” he wrote.
This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow. https://t.co/2zoi6CdFMq
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) September 8, 2022
In defense of the professor, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression issued a letter asking Carnegie Mellon not to penalize her to affirm its commitment to free speech.
“We urge CMU tor resist public pressure ... by refusing to investigate or punish Anya for her protected extramural expression.”
HuffPost has reached out to Anya for comment.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.