Science professor who called COVID-19 a ‘stunt’ placed on leave by Michigan university
A professor at a Michigan university who referred to COVID-19 as a “stunt” to create a “leftist new world order” has been placed on administrative leave, the university announced Monday.
Thomas Brennan, a physical sciences assistant professor at Ferris State University, later doubled down on his COVID-19 comments and tweets, which also included racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic slurs.
“My statements were to the effect that I believe the COVID-19 pandemic is a stunt designed to enslave humanity and strip us of all of our rights and freedoms,” he wrote Monday.
Brennan’s comments were first reported last week by The Torch, Ferris State’s student newspaper. It reported that Brennan said in a Zoom meeting with staff members that he is a COVID-19 denier.
Tweets screenshotted by the school newspaper reveal Brennan referred to the virus as a “hoax,” “fake” and “another Jewish revolution.” He also mentioned various coronavirus conspiracies, which have no basis and have been proven false.
He said in his letter he does not believe the virus is a hoax, but he does feel “its severity is being exaggerated by revolutionary leftists in the media and government.”
There have been 12.4 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States and more than 314,000 in Michigan, according to Johns Hopkins University and the state health department data as of Nov. 24. More than 8,500 of the country’s 257,000 deaths were Michigan residents.
Brennan explained that his use of the N-word in some of his tweets was done as “a linguistic atom bomb” to get people’s attention, he said. After using the N-word and other slurs in his tweets, he wrote he is not racist against Black people and loves and respects Jews.
Cora Hall, a Ferris State senior who wrote the article for The Torch, said “there seem to be a lot of people who are upset,” according to WZZM.
Ferris State University president David Eisler said Brennan’s comments were “extremely offensive.”
“We strongly reject these statements, condemn them and will not tolerate them,” Eisler stated. “We have worked diligently to become a more diverse university, and these statements demonstrate vividly how one person can set back the work of many.”
The Board of Trustees also released a statement Monday, saying it supports the university’s decision to place Brennan on administrative leave.
“We take very seriously the health and safety of everyone in our campus community, and the university’s continual efforts to create a safe and healthy learning environment,” the Board of Trustees stated. “We also want to publicly express our profound disappointment with this person’s reported racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs allegedly made on social media.”
Brennan, however, said he is a victim of “cancel culture.” He said he uses his Twitter account “as a hole to shout in.”
“It’s been my way of ‘poking the dragon,’” he wrote. “Until now, it’s gone unnoticed, but I have finally caught the attention of the ‘cancel culture. I knew this would eventually happen, and it’s fine that it’s happening now, as our society is reaching a crescendo of madness.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 7:16 AM with the headline "Science professor who called COVID-19 a ‘stunt’ placed on leave by Michigan university."