Conservative professor Mike Adams found dead in North Carolina home

A University of North Carolina professor well known for his outspoken conservative beliefs was found dead in his Wilmington, N.C., home this week, shortly after the school announced his impending retirement due to a tweet that offended and enraged students. 

Adams, a conservative voice in American academia, was discovered dead Thursday during a wellness check. A friend had reportedly asked law enforcement to look in on him when Adams hadn't been heard from for a few days. 

It has not yet been publicly revealed what caused Adams's death. Officials at the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to an email seeking more information, though a spokesman for the department earlier told media that officials would not be commenting until the investigation was complete. 

Adams sparked controversy in May when he tweeted a sarcastic criticism of the state's COVID-19 lockdown policies. "This evening I ate pizza and drank beer with six guys at a six seat table top," he wrote. "I almost felt like a free man who was not living in a slave state of North Carolina. Massa Cooper, let my people go.”

The state's governor is Roy Cooper, a Democrat.

Seeking to oust Adams from the campus over the controversy, the university eventually came to a $500,000 retirement settlement with him, claiming that a lawsuit to fire him could cost even more money than that.