Wake Forest University fired an athletic trainer on its women’s soccer team after she posted a comment on social media about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Will Pantages, a spokesman for Wake Forest’s athletic department, confirmed the university has parted ways with Bridget Sullivan.
“Bridget Sullivan is no longer at Wake Forest University,” WFU said in a statement. “As a matter of policy, Wake Forest does not comment on personnel or employment matters.”
Sullivan, a former assistant athletic trainer for the women’s soccer team, posted an Instagram story on her account that displayed the lyrics from the musical, “Chicago.” She posted “He Had it Coming, He Had It Coming.” Below that she said, “The audio is all I have to say.”
The lyrics refer to Kirk, the conservative activist who was killed last week at Utah Valley University.
Sullivan couldn’t be reached Thursday for comment. Wake Forest disconnected her office phone and removed her biography from its website.
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U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-10th, criticized Sullivan’s social media post Tuesday on his X page, formerly known as Twitter.
“I’m happy to report that after I contacted @WakeForest, Bridget has been fired for celebrating Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” Harrington wrote his X page. “Even better, the university is giving full support to students launching a @TPUSA chapter.”
Turning Post USA is a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses. It was co-founded by Kirk in 2012.
In an earlier post, Harrigan wrote that, “if a staff member is openly celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it crosses every line of decency and professionalism. No university should tolerate an employee glorifying political violence. Anything less than firing her is an endorsement of it.”
North Carolina’s 10th congressional district encompasses all of Catawba, Iredell and Lincoln and Yadkin counties as well as most of Forsyth County and including much of the city of Winston-Salem.
Wake Forest University is in Harrigan’s district.
On her Facebook page, Sullivan wrote that she had worked at WFU since August 2020.
Sullivan, who lives in Winston-Salem, received a bachelor’s degree in exercise science at High Point University in 2017, and master’s degree in athletic training from High Point University in 2019, according to her biography.
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