Celebrities with ties to Wilmington join growing push to fire controversial UNCW professor

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A trio of television celebrities with ties to the Port City are using their social media platforms to push for the firing of a controversial UNCW professor.

Calls for Mike Adams’ ouster have intensified over the past several days following his racially-charged comments on the COVID-19 shut down in North Carolina amid the growing, nationwide outrage over the tragic killing of George Floyd.

Adams, who is a sociology and criminology professor and works as a columnist for The Daily Wire and Town Hall, offended thousands with a May 29 Twitter post that read, “This evening, I ate pizza and drank beer with six guys at a six seat table top. I almost felt like a free man who was not living in the slave state of North Carolina. Massa Cooper, let my people go!”

Many saw the use of the racially insensitive slave master term as offensive, which led to the growing push to have him fired from UNCW.

That push eventually reached Orlando Jones who lives in Wilmington and starred in the Fox television show “Sleepy Hollow” which was locally filmed.

In a June 7 tweet, Jones shared a CNN article about the Adams situation and stated “As a resident of Wilmington NC & father. Mike Adams, a professor @UNCWilmington educating young minds is a PROBLEM!”

Sophia Bush, an actress who starred in the television show “One Tree Hill” which was also filmed in Wilmington, quoted Jones’ tweet and added, “Ummm. @UNCWilmington. How do you employ this person?!? The racism and misogyny are atrocious. This feels like another change for Wilmington that the #OTHfam could make some noise about.”

Another “One Tree Hill” alumna, Hilarie Burton Morgan, also took to Twitter demanding Adams’ dismissal, saying “his harassment+hostility toward women and POC is unconscionable.”

Additionally, Morgan called on “One Tree Hill” fans to avoid attending UNCW until Adams is removed.

“Our fans go to school at @uncw because we painted a pretty picture on OTH. Our show didn’t stand for the hate that #firemikeadams promotes,” Burton added in another tweet.

Four recently-created online petitions demanding Adams’ firing have gathered over 105,000 signatures, collectively.

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