A Massachusetts professor who joked about Iran blowing up “beloved American cultural heritage” such as the Mall of America and the Kardashian home has been fired.
“In retaliation, Ayatollah Khomenei should tweet a list of 52 sites of beloved American cultural heritage that he would bomb. Um… Mall of America? …Kardashian residence?” wrote adjunct professor Asheen Phansey.
Phansey, a professor at Babson College, was mocking a tweet that President Trump posted warning Iran that the United States would strike 52 Iranian targets for the 52 hostages taken during the 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis if Iran sought “revenge” after the death of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Iranian Gen. Gholamali Abuhamzeh threatened to attack 35 American sites, and the Iranian government issued warnings to Israel and the United Arab Emirates if the U.S. retaliated after more than a dozen ballistic missiles struck two Iraq-U.S. military coalition bases in western Iraq on Wednesday.
“Babson College condemns any type of threatening words and/or actions condoning violence and/or hate. This particular post from a staff member on his personal Facebook page clearly does not represent the values and culture of Babson College,” read a statement from the college.
Babson suspended the professor with pay but later stated he was no longer part of the college’s staff.
“I regret my bad attempt at humor. As an American, born and raised, I was trying to juxtapose our ‘cultural sites’ with ancient Iranian churches and mosques,” Phansey told the Boston Herald.
