American University Adjunct Lecturer Criticized over Insensitive Jokes

Adjunct lecturer in communications, Douglas Hecox, teaches courses at the Washington, D.C.-based American University. He works as a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration, but is also a stand-up comedian on the side.

Some of his jokes posted on his Twitter account were under fire last week because of their insensitivity. He joked about the mass shooting at the Aurora, Colorado movie theaters, saying, “hundreds of moviegoers were spared heart disease from heavily buttered movie popcorn.” Related to the Sandy Hook mass shooting, Hecox tweeted the jokes, “the optimist in me thinks it is a good lesson in subtraction.”

The university said it “do[es] not condone the insensitive posts from the individual’s Twitter account.”

Related Topics