An Ivy League professor said that Ben Carson should win the "coon of the year" after the 2016 hopeful supported allowing Confederate flags at NASCAR events.

In a tweet sent out last Tuesday, University of Pennsylvania religious studies professor Anthea Butler, wrote "If only there was a 'coon of the year' award ..." when responding to Daily Beast editor-at-large Goldie Taylor's tweet containing a link to a Sports Illustrated article on the issue.

"Swastikas are a symbol of hate for some people too … and yet they still exist in our museums and places like that," Carson said during an event with Richard Petty in North Carolina last Monday. "If it's a majority of people in that area who want it to fly, I certainly wouldn't take it down."

Obviously, Butler disagreed with the famed neurosurgeon, who currently sits second in the Washington Examiner's latest power ranking, behind only Donald Trump.

Butler deleted the tweet after she was contacted by Campus Reform for comment. In addition, Butler has a protected account on the social network, meaning she would have to accept a request from a user to follow her account.

(Photo courtesy of Anthea Butler's Twitter page.)

Prof. Justin McDaniel, who chairs of the religious studies program at UPenn, called Butler a "valued colleague and faculty member," but did not offer any direct comment on the tweet itself.

"Professor Butler is on sabbatical and not regularly on campus as she is writing a book on African-American religious history," McDaniel told the Examiner via email Tuesday. "She will be back on campus teaching regularly in the spring. She is a valued colleague and faculty member, but I have no comment on the tweet, because I have not seen it nor know the context of the comment."

When presented with the tweet, McDaniel simply said "no comment."

Carson spokeswoman Deana Bass told Examiner said that Butler's tweet "does not merit a response."

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