Controversial Nigerian-born academic, Dr Uju Anya, is in the news again over a social media post that has not only sparked outrage from ordinary white Americans with whom she has on many occasions been at odds, but this time around also drew the ire of the country’s establishment and the world’s richest people. The latest saga on X has also compelled Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, where she is an associate professor, to issue a statement.
On Friday, the university said it was looking into the “hostile and threatening” social media posts she shared recently. This is not the first time the university has decried and distanced itself from Anya’s online truculent and bellicose activity. In 2022, she became the target of widespread public reproach for posts wishing Queen Elizabeth II an “excruciating” pain.
The latest intervention came amid mounting criticism of several posts Anya made on X, with the most recent centred on a reply in which she allegedly wished death upon a “white man,” prompting strident calls for sanctions, including from X owner Elon Musk.
Matters came to a head on Friday, and she faced intense online backlash after an X user, Wuhan Fourth Turning Swan (@TheWuhanClan), publicly shared screenshots and details of a “hostile” exchange involving Anya.
According to the account and widely circulated material, @TheWuhanClan quoted Anya’s February 17, 2021, post about the late conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, in which she wrote, “Rush Limbaugh finally did something positive in life by dropping dead. Good Riddance to bad rubbish.”
The user replied, “Weird how you only celebrate the deaths of white people. Why is that?”
Anya then responded, “Die first, white man, then ask yourself why I’m dancing.”
In a statement posted on X on Saturday, the university said: “Dr Uju Anya is currently on voluntary professional leave from the university and is not teaching courses on our campus this academic year.
“We are deeply concerned by recent hostile and threatening social media posts by Dr Anya and are reviewing this matter closely.”
In a follow-up post, Carnegie Mellon clarified: “To be clear: These posts incorrectly imply our university’s endorsement and are contrary to our community standards and values as well as our commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and welcoming campus community.”
Anya’s X account was taken offline and can no longer be accessed after the backlash, leading to reports that she had deactivated it. However, it is not immediately clear whether she personally pulled down the account or whether X made it inaccessible
@TheWuhanClan shared a series of posts about the incident.
In one, the user wrote: “I take this death threat against me very seriously, and your failure to discipline her wishing death and injury on multiple others in the past has encouraged her to behave even more belligerently. She is laughing about how you won’t do shit. Own this.”
In another comment on the CMU statement, the account stated, “Her posts imply you endorse this behaviour. Why would anyone pay 70k to attend your school or donate to be exposed to this filth and violence?”
The matter also drew attention from Elon Musk, who posted, “This is a real professor at Carnegie Mellon University …” while quoting a Grok reply which stated Anya’s full name as Obianuju Anya and identified her as a staff member of CMU since 2021.
The university did not specify which of her posts were under review or specify whether the circulating screenshot of the “Die first, white man…” message was among them.
It also did not announce that Anya had been suspended, relieved of her duties, or subjected to any other work-related punitive action. Anya is an associate professor of second-language acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics.
As of the time of filing this report, she had not publicly responded to the university’s statements or the growing controversy.
The 2022 Queen Elizabeth controversy
In September 2022, Anya faced severe global backlash for a post she made about Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Hours before the monarch’s demise, she wrote: “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving, raping, genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.”
The post was later deleted for violating Twitter rules.
She followed up after the Queen’s death was announced, writing that she felt nothing but disgust for the monarch whose government she claimed masterminded the pogrom that massacred and displaced half her family during the Nigerian Civil War (Biafra, 1967–1970).
In an interview with The Cut, Anya explained that the Queen’s throne is a symbol of enslavement and colonialism. She stated her parents were colonial subjects, one from Trinidad and one from Nigeria, who survived the Biafran conflict. She claimed the British government funded and gave political cover to the Nigerian side, and that the harm shaped her life and that of many others.
“Half of my family was slaughtered with guns and bombs that this queen sent to kill us,” she stated.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos quote-tweeted her original post, questioning how someone working to make the world better could write such words. Anya replied by wishing that those harmed by Bezos would remember him as fondly as she remembered her “colonisers.”
While the outrage and backlash that Anya’s public commentary has elicited mostly come from white people, there has been minimal opposition to her remarks from most Nigerians. While some are indifferent to her controversial statements and online squabble with agitated netizens from the global North, many have commended her and thrown their weight behind her, saying her excoriation and condemnation by people like Musk and Bezos are attempts to put a target on her and ostracise her.
Anya, after a comment about the Nigerian Civil War, publicly thanked Nigerians, especially those from Alaigbo, for their support, saying they had shared their pain and taught the world their history.
