It reads like something out of the Netflix show “The Chair.” An assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at Old Dominion University gave an interview where they spoke about their research on pedophilia and distinguished between people with an attraction to children and people who offend sexually against children.
A brief clip from the interview, devoid of context, began metastasizing its way through social media, where it eventually exploded. Suddenly, the professor was being accused of defending child sexual abuse. The New York Post, the Daily Mail and Fox News took the bait. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) retweeted it. Tucker Carlson discussed it on his show. On-campus protests erupted, death threats began, and the professor required an armed guard to move about campus. A petition to remove the academic from their position received thousands of signatures, and the university placed them on leave, citing safety concerns. A week later, the professor stepped down.
