Tennessee theater professor reinstated, awarded $500,000 after firing over insensitive Charlie Kirk post

A Tennessee university has agreed to reinstate a professor and pay him half a million dollars after he was fired over a social media post he made following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

Darren Michael, an associate professor of acting and directing at Austin Peay State University, reached a settlement with the university after challenging his termination. Under the agreement, Michael will be reinstated to his position, receive $500,000, and be reimbursed for his “therapeutic counseling services,” according to WKRN.

“APSU agrees to issue a statement acknowledging regret for not following the tenure termination process in connection with the Dispute,” the agreement said, per WKRN. “The statement will be distributed via email through APSU’s reasonable communication channels to faculty, staff, and students.”

Michael was fired two days after Kirk was murdered at Utah Valley University, with the university citing his “insensitive” social media posts. One Facebook post shared by Michael linked to an article titled “Charlie Kirk says gun deaths are ‘unfortunately’ worth it to keep 2nd Amendment.” Michael did not add his own caption to the post.

The post drew attention from Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, who shared a screenshot of Michael’s post on X and wrote, “What do you say, Austin Peay?” along with Michael’s resume.

Following the controversy, the university released a statement saying Michael had been terminated for social media comments that were “insensitive, disrespectful and interpreted by many as propagating justification for unlawful death.” Austin Peay State University President Mike Licari said at the time that the university viewed Michael’s actions as “unacceptable” and confirmed that he had been fired.