Professor who wished Queen 'excruciating' death boasts she will not get fired following backlash

The university who wished Queen Elizabeth II an ‘excruciating’ death has doubled down on her comments by revealing that she will not get fired from her job, despite widespread backlash. 

Uju Anya, professor of linguistics and race at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tweeted on 8 September before the monarch passed away aged 96. 

Anya said: “I hear the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.” 

After the tweet was deleted for ‘violating the Twitter rules’, she added: “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.” 

While some social media users said the professor was a ‘hero’ for ‘telling the truth’, the post was also met with criticism from many others - with some calling for her to be fired. 

However, Anya has revealed that her job is ‘not in jeopardy’, claiming managers at the university told her they stood in ‘firm support’ of her freedom of expression, despite not approving of her specific comments. 

Thanking her partner and everyone who ‘rallied’ for her, she wrote: “You showed me something very important: I have people. 

“All of you showed me I have people in my life, in my new city of Pittsburgh, in my university, in this country, and around the world. I am deeply grateful to you, my people, for holding me in strength and community. 

“From what I've been told, there is no plan to sanction or fire me, and my job is not in jeopardy. My university leadership showed very clearly they did not approve of my speech; however, they stand in firm support of my freedom of expression on my own personal social media.” 

She added: “I am not in a battle with Carnegie Mellon University. As the letters of support from the students, faculty, staff, and others in my university community clearly show, I am wanted and I belong here.” 

I am not in a battle with Carnegie Mellon University. As the letters of support from the students, faculty, staff, and others in my university community clearly show, I am wanted and I belong here.

— Uju Anya (@UjuAnya) September 12, 2022

Her original tweet had even caught the attention of Jeff Bezos before it was taken down, with the Amazon founder writing: "This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow."

Anya then responded to Bezos, saying: "May everyone you and your merciless greed have harmed in this world remember you as fondly as I remember my colonisers."

In a statement posted to Twitter, the university wrote: "We do not condone the offensive and objectionable messages posted by Uju Anya today on her personal social media account.

"Free expression is core to the mission of higher education, however, the views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution, nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster."

UNILAD has reached out to Carnegie Mellon University for further comment.

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