Orange County officer, self-described ‘antifa’ fired over social media posts
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Orange County fired jail officer Brian Edwards for policy-violating posts online.
- Edwards’ messages included political criticism and self-identification as 'Antifa.'
- Sheriff cited public trust and internal conduct standards in termination decision.
An Orange County jail employee was fired Monday over social media posts that criticized Republican President Donald Trump and his administration.
Detention Officer Brian Edwards was placed on administrative leave Saturday after the Orange County Sheriff’s Office learned about the posts and began to investigate, Sheriff Charles Blackwood said in a news release.
The investigation confirmed that Edwards’ posts violated the department’s Standards of Conduct and the Speech, Expression, and Social Networking sections of its policy manual. The Sheriff’s Office did not share or describe the posts that were investigated, but some of them were still posted to Edwards’ Bluesky account.
In one post still visible on Bluesky, Edwards said, “I am Antifa. And I will never comply with a fascist regime.”
“Antifa” is short for the anti-fascist movement of the early 1930s and also refers to the modern movement of left-wing, anti-racist and anti-fascist political activists in the United States.
In another post, Edwards linked to a video on his YouTube channel of a song he performed called, “Old Man Trump.” Edwards said the song was “Inspired by the words of Woody Guthrie, and that it “calls out injustice, intolerance, and the legacy of hate left by Donald Trump.”
The post includes a photo of a guitar, with “This Machine Kills Facists” written on it with a marker— an apparent homage to Guthrie’s similarly adorned guitars that showed his opposition to fascists during World War II.
Other posts alleged to be from his social media accounts were shared by the Mostly Peaceful Memes account on X (formerly Twitter), including one that stated: “It may even be time to bring back the guillotine.”
That statement could not be independently verified.
Edwards was previously a correctional officer with the N.C. Department of Public Safety in Caswell County, according to his LinkedIn profile, and had trained as a telecommunicator with Orange County Emergency Services.
He graduated from UNC-Pembroke in 2016 with a degree in political science, where he also served as president of the College Democrats.
Edwards was hired as a detention officer in 2022 and promoted to corporal earlier this year. His employment was terminated according to department policy, Blackwood said.
“We must maintain the public trust as we go about our mission to protect, serve, and treat everyone with dignity and respect,” he said.
The News & Observer left a phone message for Edwards on Monday morning seeking comment for this story but has not yet heard back.
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This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 11:45 AM.
