Princeton Professor Receives 'Alt-Right' Death Threats Following Trump Criticism, She Says

An assistant professor of African Studies at Princeton University said she received death threats after criticizing President Donald Trump during a commencement speech at Hampshire University in Amherst, Massachusetts on May 20.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation,” called the president “a racist and sexist megalomaniac” during the speech, which received backlash from the alt-right after a Fox News on the speech aired.

“The president of the United States, the most powerful politician in the world, is a racist, sexist megalomaniac,” said Taylor.

“It’s not a benign observation, but has meant tragic consequences for many people in our country, from terror-inducing raids in the communities of undocumented immigrants to his disparaging of refugees in search of freedom and respite,” she continued.

She said she’s received over 50 hateful emails, which “contained specific threats of violence, including murder,” in response to her speech, according to a statement on Facebook posted by her publisher Haymarket Books.

As a result, she has had to cancel future speaking events in Seattle, University of California, and San Diego, for fear of her and her family’s safety.

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Taylor blamed the violent backlash on the Fox News segment about her speech which characterized it as a “commencement tirade.” After the segment aired she said that it was intended to unleash a “mob-like mentality.”

“My speech at Hampshire was applauded but Fox News did not like it,” the assistant professor said. “Fox did not run this story because it was “news,” but to incite and unleash the mob-like mentality of its fringe audience, anticipating that they would respond with a deluge of hate-filled emails — or worse,” she continued.

The perpetrators of the hate speech, according to Taylor, are the fringes in the “alt-right” which have been emboldened by the election of President Trump. In her statement, she also linked her experience of violence with the violent racially motivated murders in Portland, Oregon.

“Fox & Friends” executive producer Gavin Hadden defended the segment, saying, “We played Ms. Taylor’s comments as they were and did not editorialize her commencement address. We frequently cover commencement addresses around this time.”

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Following the backlash, Taylor received support from the Princeton University Department of African American Studies Faculty and Staff who penned a statement of solidarity.

“We, the faculty of the Princeton University Department of African American Studies, stand in solidarity with our colleague Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, extraordinary scholar of race in America, and we condemn the violent threats and ongoing harassment leveled against her,” read the statement.

Others on Twitter have started petitions and announced their support for the assistant professor. Some of her supporters questioned where the support from those that condemned threats against Milo Yiannopoulos, the alt-right provocateur, who had to cancel speaking event after similar threats and a violent protest at Berkeley University resulting in its cancellation.

“Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor unable to speak in Seattle and San Diego after 50+ personal threats. Where's the outrage, Milo Y fans?” wrote Twitter user Ramona E. Lawson.