CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – An Austin Peay State University professor is suing U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, claiming that the senator used her political weight to get him fired.

Darren Michael claims Blackburn began a vendetta against him after he made a social media post about the death of right-wing personality Charlie Kirk, according to Clarksville Now news partner WKRN-News 2 in Nashville. The post, made on Michael’s private account in September 2025, connected Kirk’s death with his views on the Second Amendment.

In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Nashville, Michael claims Blackburn urged the school to fire him over the post, insinuating that federal funding could be stripped from the university if they did not.

Blackburn is running for governor of Tennessee, and on Thursday she won the Republican nomination to be the candidate in November.

Social media post, Blackburn challenge

Michael, an associate professor of acting and directing at APSU, had shared an article quoting Kirk’s own thoughts about gun violence. That post gained the attention of Blackburn, who posted a screenshot of Michael’s post to X along with his headshot and biography. “What do you say, @austinpeay?” the caption to Blackburn’s post reads.

Michael was fired the next day, he said in the lawsuit against Blackburn, noting APSU Provost Dr. Mitchell Cordova told him the school was “under external pressure” and admitted to being pressured to address the situation by “government actors who have direct influence over funding for APSU.”

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In September, APSU moved Michael to suspension before fully bringing him back into the classroom. He later sued APSU over the firing. APSU agreed in a settlement to pay him $500,000 and reimburse therapeutic counseling services.

Lawsuit against Sen. Blackburn

In the new lawsuit, as reported by News 2, Michael is asking the court to declare Blackburn’s conduct a violation of the First and Fourth Amendments and to award him lost wages and punitive damages.

Blackburn’s campaign gave the following statement to News 2 regarding the lawsuit: “We have not even been served with this lawsuit, although the plaintiff apparently decided to try it in the media first,” Blackburn’s campaign manager Abigail Sigler said. “Based on what we have seen, it is a meritless attempt to punish Senator Blackburn and others for criticizing outrageous public statements concerning political violence and the murder of a husband, father, and patriot. The criticism of those public statements is protected speech, not defamation.”

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