Elon Musk has weighed in on the Fresno State professor who called for the death of himself and President Donald Trump.
Musk responded to a post on X – which he owns – saying Fresno State lecturer Katherine Shurik’s comments constitute a serious crime.
What he’s saying: The popular Libs of TikTok X account shared an image of Shurik’s post calling for the death of Trump and Musk, along with the entire Republican Party.
- “Calling for the death of the President is a serious crime,” Musk responded.
The big picture: United States law classifies threats to the president as a class D felony that is punishable up to five years in prison with a maximum fine of $250,000.
The backstory: Shurik, who is a lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Fresno State, attended a protest at the Fresno Tesla dealership last Saturday and was recorded on video saying she offers extra credit for students who attend a protest.
- Following that video, previous social media posts that Shurik made circulated online.
- One post had a picture of Trump in a casket, with her saying she has “a dream for this to happen much sooner rather than later.”
- In another post, Shurik shared an image of a tombstone for Trump, saying, “And take Musk and the rest of the Nazi (Republican) party members with you too!”
Fresno State’s response: Fresno State condemned Shurik’s comments in a statement to The Sun earlier this week.
- “While Fresno State firmly believes in the principles of free speech, we strongly condemn the abhorrent social media posts and comments made by one of our part-time instructors,” the university said. “As these views were published by the employee as a private citizen, they do not represent our University in any way. Fresno State firmly denounces wishes of death against any elected official, particularly the President of the United States – these go against our core educational values and are not consistent with our Principles of Community. As Americans and educators, we pride ourselves on democratic dialogue, not words of derision and contempt about the most important political figure of our country.”
