"DISGRACEFUL COWARDICE"! UGA journalism dean CAVES to Twitter mob after congratulating GOP candidate

Sarah D | 5:40 PM on July 30, 2018

Just when you thought it was safe to say something nice about someone else …

My favorite part of this "tolerant" age is when online mobs go after people for being friends with/expressing well wishes for people whose worldview is opposite of their own. So much fun.

— Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) July 30, 2018

Look who’s having fun now:

The dean of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia recently issued an apology to those he had "offended" with a tweet congratulating a childhood friend on becoming the state’s Republican candidate for governor. https://t.co/gUhQoPm3KB #TCOT #PJNET

— Campus Reform (@campusreform) July 30, 2018

More from Campus Reform:

Charles Davis, dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at UGA, sent the offending tweet shortly after Brian Kemp won the GOP primary Tuesday night, noting that he had been friends with Kemp since childhood and considers him a “nice guy.”

“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 tweeted. “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.”

That’s how it should work. But that’s not how it actually works, it seems:

Davis denied facing any backlash from colleagues or administrators to apologize for the tweet, telling Campus Reform that “the decision was entirely mine” in a brief statement provided by UGA’s Media Communications office.

Three days after his initial tweet, though, Davis posted an apology to those who had been “offended” by it, assuring his antagonists that he had “learned” from their feedback and “will endeavor to be more thoughtful” in the future.