Gad Saad, a longtime Concordia University professor known for his outspoken criticism of “woke” politics as well as his denunciations of antisemitism, has announced he’s moving this summer to the United States.
Saad, 62, broke the news on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, noting he applied for and obtained an EB-1A visa, a Green Card for individuals who are deemed to have “extraordinary ability.”
Saad, who had taken a leave of absence from Concordia, was already a visiting scholar at The Declaration of Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom at the University of Mississippi. He will continue his work as a scholar there for the next three years.
In the podcast episode, published last week, Saad told host Joe Rogan he hopes to eventually become a U.S. citizen.
“My inner spirit is American, but maybe we can legalize it and turn the Saads into Americans,” he said, alluding to himself, his wife and his children.
“So the Lebanese-Jews-Canadians are going down to Oxford, Mississippi, and we’re very excited,” added Saad, whose latest book, “Suicidal Empathy,” has become an international bestseller.
Saad didn’t cite the specific reasons for his decision to move to the U.S., but he did touch on his experience at Concordia. In his book — and during the podcast with Rogan — Saad recounted a “tsunami of online death threats” in 2017 linked to his public opposition to Bill C-16, which amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender identity and expression as protected grounds.
He reported these threats to Concordia administrators and then filed a report with Montreal police.
“Notwithstanding the security services’ best efforts, it was a very difficult
semester for me,” Saad wrote in the book. “I felt under perpetual siege, not knowing where the next threat was coming from.”
Then in 2022, while on campus with his son, Gaad said he came face-to-face with an ominous-looking man.
“I was walking with my son when I noticed an individual intensely staring at me. As I passed him by, he asked if I were Gad Saad. I turned around, pleased that this was a likely fan. With a big smile on my face, I replied in the affirmative. The next few seconds were quite chilling. He took a deep
breath as if to restrain his apparent hatred and stated that he was not going to say or do anything to me out of respect for my son. It took me a second to realize what had just taken place, and then I answered ‘Thank you’ and continued walking.”
Saad contacted the police again, but was not given the opportunity to identify potential suspects in a lineup.