The dean of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Georgia was forced to apologize for having a Republican friend.
Dean Charles Davis is, apparently, friends with Brian Kemp, who won Georgia’s Republican primary for governor last week.
“I went to high school with GOP guv candidate @BrianKempGA. We played YMCA ball from childhood. Politics be damned. He is a nice guy, always was. Kind to a fault,” Davis said, via Twitter. “He’s a friend, always has been, and will be when we’re old(er) and grey(er). That’s how all this should work, people.”
Davis’s feel-good tweet, congratulating a friend for winning a competitive primary, received substantial backlash from liberals on social media–who accused Davis of everything from being a “racist” to having “white privilege.”
Though he didn’t receive any criticism from his colleagues or from the university’s administration, the attacks on social media were so severe that Davis felt the need to walk back his initial tweet.
“I’d like to apologize to anyone offended by my tweet shout out to Brian Kemp,” said Davis. “It was ill-timed and poorly written. I’ve read and learned so much from you all and will endeavor to be more thoughtful.”