After a social media post about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a Wake Forest employee is no longer employed by the university. Bridget Sullivan worked as the assistant athletic trainer for the Wake Forest women’s soccer team since the fall of 2020.
Kirk was a conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses. On Sept. 10, Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University. His death triggered a large public response on social media and the internet.
In the wake of Kirk’s assassination, Sullivan posted an Instagram story on her personal account with the lyrics “He had it coming, he had it coming,” followed by her personal comment, “This audio is all I have to say about that.”
On Sept. 12, North Carolina Congressman Pat Harrigan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he had contacted Wake Forest University in response to Sullivan’s social media comment.
“No university should tolerate an employee glorifying political violence. Anything less than firing her is an endorsement of it,” His post stated.
Harrigan posted an update on Sept. 16 that Sullivan had been fired due to her comments about Kirk’s death. In the same post, he celebrated the start of Wake Forest’s Turning Point USA chapter.
Wake Forest administration provided one statement on the matter: “Sullivan is no longer at Wake Forest University. As a matter of policy, Wake Forest does not comment on personnel or employment matters.”
This firing reflects a broader trend in which professors and university staff face backlash for controversial social media responses to Kirk’s death.
