Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) is facing a libel lawsuit for comments about a Wake Forest athletic trainer. (Photo from harrigan.house.gov)
A former Wake Forest University athletic trainer is suing Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) for more than $75,000 over his claims that she was fired for comments about the death of Charlie Kirk.
Bridget Sullivan filed a libel lawsuit against Harrigan in Forsyth Superior Court Friday, alleging Harrigan spread falsehoods about her when he posted from his congressional X account that she was “FIRED for celebrating Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”
Sullivan posted the song lyrics, “He had it coming, he had it coming,” on Sept. 11, the day after Kirk was fatally shot, alongside a comment that “this audio is all I have to say about that.”
The following day, Harrigan called for her firing on X, reposting screenshots of her Wake Forest biography alongside her Instagram post. He added that he contacted the university about her comments.
“If a staff member is openly celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it crosses every line of decency and professionalism,” Harrigan wrote. “No university should tolerate an employee glorifying political violence. Anything less than firing her is an endorsement of it.”
According to the lawsuit, both Sullivan and the university received threats and other “derogatory comments” after this, requiring additional police protection on campus.
On Sept. 16, he made a follow-up post announcing she was fired. received more than 23,000 likes and 874,000 views, according to the lawsuit, and was cited by The Charlotte Observer and Raleigh News and Observer in reporting that she was fired. His X account reposted the latter headline.
A spokesperson for Harrigan did not respond to a request for comment.
UPDATE: I’m happy to report that after I contacted @WakeForest, Bridget has been FIRED for celebrating Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Even better, the university is giving full support to students launching a @TPUSA chapter. t.co/XTuijrutN1
— Congressman Pat Harrigan (@RepPatHarrigan) September 16, 2025
Sullivan denied in the lawsuit that she was fired, and that instead, she and Wake Forest “mutually agreed that it would be best to part ways” on Sept. 14.
“Wake Forest did not fire or terminate [Sullivan]. Upon information and belief, no Wake Forest representative issued such a statement to [Harrigan], to the school at large, to the press, or to the public,” the complaint reads. “Such a statement was and is false.”
Wake Forest University did not respond to a request to confirm that.
In the wake of Kirk’s death, conservative activists and lawmakers have sought action against employees for universities, hospitals, and government agencies over insensitive comments made online. UNC Chapel Hill suspended a professor over alleged ties to a group that did so on Sept. 30, only to reinstate him when no connection was found.
Sullivan is requesting a jury trial and more than $75,000 in damages due to harm to her reputation, pain and suffering, and emotional distress, among other impacts.
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