Former state employees who were fired for posting hateful and insensitive comments about the assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk last month are reportedly flooding the courts with lawsuits.
Following the shocking murder at Utah Valley University on September 10, thousands of liberals boldly took to social media to celebrate. Unfortunately for them, this time, conservatives turned the tables on them and began an extremely successful campaign to have them all fired.
Naturally, many of the people fired were teachers and other state employees.
Now, more than a dozen public sector workers, from teachers to biologists, have filed lawsuits challenging their terminations, arguing that their despicable off-duty social media rants were protected speech.
Among the plaintiffs is Kevin Courtwright, a landscape supervisor at Auburn University, who was fired for a Facebook post calling Kirk “fascist” and “nazi trash,” writing, “One fascist down; a whole socio-political movement go. FAFO nazi trash,” according to a report from The Hill.
“However ill-considered Defendant perceived Plaintiff’s comments to be, his comments did not render him unfit for his job as a Landscape Supervisor,” the lawsuit claims, according to the report.
The report adds, “Explaining why he took aim at Kirk’s pro-gun rights stance, Courtwright’s lawyers emphasized a student in 2014 intended to shoot up his son’s high school. Police chased him to a nearby parking lot where Courtwright was working as a landscaper, the student shot himself in the head, and Courtwright was tasked with cleaning up his splattered human remains.”
Courtwright was not the only Auburn employee fired for posts glorifying political violence.
Candice Hale, a lecturer at Auburn and former instructor at the University of Alabama, was placed on leave and later terminated for a rant refusing to mourn “oppressors” like Kirk, whom she labeled a “racist, fascist, misogynist.”
Her full post read: “I do not mourn oppressors. I do not show them empathy. I don’t give a damn about evil racist, fascist, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, mediocre white men who claim to be Christian individuals and then do everything Christ would not do on Earth.”
“It has come to our attention that there are Auburn employees who made social media posts that were hurtful, insensitive and completely at odds with Auburn’s values of respect, integrity and responsibility in violation of our Code of Conduct. We are terminating the employment of those individuals,” Auburn President Christopher Roberts announced a week after Kirk’s shooting.
In Arkansas, Joy Gray, chief of the Department of Health’s tobacco prevention program, was axed for commenting, “Oh no, what if he’s ok?” on a post about Kirk’s shooting. Her lawsuit claims First Amendment and due process violations, but the state argues that her claims lack sufficient factual support.
Florida biologist Brittney Brown lost her job at the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after sharing a satirical Instagram story mocking Kirk’s views on school shootings: “the whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all.”
The post went viral via Libs of TikTok, and Brown alleges involvement from Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration in her firing.
Tennessee high school science teacher Emily Orbinson was suspended for posting “don’t mourn his death,” prompting Senator Marsha Blackburn to demand her termination.
As these former employees cry “First Amendment” in court for losing their jobs, it is essential to remember that they celebrated Kirk losing his life for exercising his.
The post Fired State Workers Are Reportedly Flooding Courts with Lawsuits After Getting Canned for Vile Posts Mocking the Assassination of Charlie Kirk appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.