UCF Football Players Speak out Against Controversial Professor

Several UCF Knights football players took to Twitter on Wednesday to speak out against a psychology professor’s racist comments.

The posts come after the university confirmed Charles Negy was still under investigation after racist comments made on social media.

RB Greg McCrae, DL Kenny Turnier and DL Randy Charlton shared their thoughts on the controversy. QB McKenzie Milton expressed his solidarity with his team on Instagram.

“Charles Negy is a racist and sexist professor who is currently employed by my university,” McCrae tweeted Wednesday morning. “I do not condone comments and tweets that he has made openly disgracing others because of their race or gender.”

McCrae signed off by tagging UCF President Alexander Cartwright and added the hashtag #UCFfirehim, which has been trending in recent weeks.

He added, “We are [supposed] to be a school that promotes diversity while your employee doesn’t and goes against the [university’s] ethics.”

Milton posted an Instagram story on Wednesday saying he stands with his brother McCrae and Negy’s actions are “straight bogus.”

“This type of stereotype is straight bogus,” Milton said on his Instagram story. “Come to a UCF football team meeting one of these days professor and have that same kind of energy!! Or better yet call one of my African American teammates mothers uneducated to their face. Straight bogus… this is NOT what UCF is about.”

McCrae also posted a link to a petition for those in the UCF community to sign to have the professor fired, in addition to a form where students and alumni can share their experiences with Negy.

“If you have experienced abusive or discriminatory behavior at UCF by Dr. Charles Negy, share your experience and tell your story here,” the form reads. “We are 2 UCF students with a Zoom meeting scheduled with the office investigating Charles Negy and want to make sure your voices and stories are heard.”

The form notes that all inquiries are welcome, whether they are negative, positive or neutral.

Turnier tweeted, “Just wanted y’all to know that I attend a university where we have a racist and sexist teaching classes.” The tweet has since been deleted.

Negy, a professor at UCF for 22 years, is currently under investigation for a series of tweets, the most controversial regarding the death of George Floyd.

The university has told the media that firing a professor with tenure over the First Amendment is a long, complicated process.

Daniella Medina is a contributing writer for Black and Gold Banneret. Follow her on Twitter @danimedinanews.