(Newser) – A Drexel University politics professor whose bio says he specializes in Latin American social movements claims a Christmas Eve tweet that spurred a #WhiteGenocide hashtag was meant to be satirical, but not everyone is taking it that way, including Drexel. Per the Philadelphia Inquirer, George Ciccariello-Maher tweeted on his account (now closed off as "protected") Saturday night: "All I Want for Christmas is White Genocide," adding a follow-up tweet on Sunday that read: "To clarify: when the whites were massacred during the Haitian revolution, that was a good thing indeed." Conservative websites and Twitter users expressed outrage at Ciccariello-Maher's tweets and denounced what they say is reverse racism, with one user noting, "LYING MSM only pretends to care about racism when it fits their agenda. Media won't talk about leftist professors advocating white genocide!"

But as of Monday, Ciccariello-Maher wasn't backing down, mainly because he says the "white genocide" concept is an "imaginary" one created by white supremacists and "used to denounce everything from interracial relationships to multicultural policies," he said in an email to the Inquirer. "It is a figment of the racist imagination, it should be mocked, and I'm glad to have mocked it," he added, noting he's received "hundreds of death threats." The university says it wants a meeting with the professor to "discuss this matter in detail." "While the University recognizes the right of its faculty to freely express their thoughts and opinions in public debate ... Ciccariello-Maher's comments are utterly reprehensible, deeply disturbing, and do not in any way reflect the values of the University," the college said in a Sunday statement—a statement Ciccariello-Maher says "sets a frightening precedent." ("White genocide" signs were hung from a Tennessee overpass.)

