GOP lawmaker calls for Mankato prof to resign after comment about UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer

A Minnesota college professor is fending off flak from a congressman after a private, “facetious” post by the professor was made public.

Rep. Brad Finstad this week accused Kevin Parsneau, political science professor at Minnesota State, Mankato, of “advocating in support of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.”

Finstad, whose district contains Mankato, called for the university’s leadership to demand Parsneau’s resignation, in a letter dated Tuesday and posted on Facebook.

“It is acutely unacceptable that this professor is provided a platform to be in the presence of students or involved in academia in any form,” Finstad said in a letter he posted to Facebook. Finstad’s office did not respond to a request for comment as of Friday afternoon.

Parsneau on Friday said his comments were not meant to be serious; they were posted in a private group and taken out of context by people he called “cancel culture advocates” — but from the right.

He said he commented on a friend’s Facebook post after a masked gunman, whom police now believe to be Luigi Mangione, shot Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in New York on Dec. 4.

A post by a friend of Parsneau’s said, “How long do we really need to look for Brian Thompson’s killer? Is today good enough? Or do they need to look tomorrow?”

Parsneau replied, “It’s going to be disappointing if he’s a one-off killer instead of a serial killer.”

He said in a phone call Friday afternoon that he was not being serious.

“It was a private chatroom with a relatively limited group of people, that contained primarily facetious, sarcastic, dark humor,” Parsneau said. “What I said was not meant as anything serious, and somebody went out of their way and targeted me, and that got forwarded to Rep. Finstad, who I believe understands facetiousness.”

He acknowledged his comment was an “insensitive statement,” and said he was not advocating for anyone’s assassination or curtailing the investigation into Thompson’s killing, he added in a Facebook message.

“It was meant to be about the larger social media reaction to the crime, which I believe reflects public frustration with the health insurance industry and the countless tragic stories of denied health care,” Parsneau said. “Rep. Finstad should spend his time addressing that crisis instead of being a cancel culture activist.”

Parsneau said on Friday he has not been asked to resign. A university spokesman confirmed he has tenure.

Edward Inch, Minnesota State Mankato’s president, said in a statement Thursday afternoon that Parsneau’s comment was made on a personal Facebook account and not endorsed by the university.

“I want to make it clear that I denounce all messages that condone violence of any kind,” Inch said.

He said the university plans to host campus conversations in the spring on speech, limits and responsibilities.