Cancel Culture: Krugman, Yellen Call For Removing Editor Of A Top Economics Journal For Criticizing Black Lives Matter

Several leading economists including Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman and former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen have urged the University of Chicago to remove Professor Harald Uhlig from his position as editor of the prestigious Journal of Political Economy for criticising Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements.

In a Twitter post late Monday, Uhlig, a professor of economics of the University of Chicago, said that Black Lives Matter had “just torpedoed itself, with its full-fledged support of #defundthepolice,” a reference to calls by activists to disband police departments for their perceived racial bias.

Prof. Uhlig went on to argue that it was time “for sensible adults to enter back into the room and have serious, earnest, respectful conversations about it all.”

A letter calling for his removal as the Lead Editor of the Journal of Political Economy received support from academics around the US, including University of Michigan professor Justin Wolfers.

'Prof. Uhlig's comments published on his blog and Twitter posts dated June 8th, trivializing the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and drawing parallels between the BLM movement and the Ku Klux Klan, are outrageous and unacceptable.' the letter read.

Nobel Laureate and a columnist with The New York Times Paul Krugman called Prof. Uhlig 'yet another privileged white man' in a series of tweets.

Criticising Prof. Uhlig , former Fed chair Janey Yellen, said that “it would be appropriate for the University of Chicago, which is the publisher of the Journal of Political Economy, to review Uhlig’s performance and suitability to continue as editor.”