People are comparing John Friedman to Robin Williams's character in 'Dead Poets Society' — Why?

There are a ton of reasons one decides to start a TikTok account, most of which are rooted in the desire to learn or be part of a community. Some folks make their way to the app to anonymously lurk without creating content of their own. Others are interested in some of TikToks greatest hits such as book recommendations, recipes, makeup tutorials, and hot gossip.

Dr. John Friedman's arrival on the popular social media app was the result of being fired from his job. He joined in early March 2025 and immediately began posting his own lectures to the account. Dr. Friedman's bio simply reads: The Fired Anthro Prof. Why was Dr. Friedman fired? Here's what we know.

Before he was let go, Dr. Friedman was an anthropology professor at University College Roosevelt (UCR). The small honors undergraduate liberal arts and science college is located in Middelburg, in the Netherlands. Dr. Friedman was let go after 21 years, per a YouTube video from the Curious Masterminds channel. Evidently, his dismissal was part of a large round of layoffs. Student enrollment has significantly declined, which led to government budget cuts.

UCR decided to restructure its curriculum, which included getting rid of the anthropology program. This bad news was made worse by the fact that Dr. Friedman's wife, Dr. Fatima Mueller-Friedman, was also dismissed. She was an Associate Professor of Human Geography at UCR. Despite being fired, Dr. Friedman has continued lecturing his students in public, on school grounds.

According to Omroep Zeeland, Dr. Friedman was let go in February 2025. Minutes before finding out in a meeting with the UCR board, he addressed a group of students waiting in the cold for answer. "Little places matter," he said in a speech. "Maybe I won't have a job soon, but that won't change anything. We continue to learn our whole lives." Sadly, he was right about his job, though Dr. Friedman continues to teach.

After Dr. Friedman shared his story, as well as a few lectures, on TikTok, he started going viral. Many are comparing him to Robin Williams's character from the movie Dead Poets Society, based on their passion for teaching regardless of the cost. Others are pointing out how terrifying this is. "Languages, literature, philosophy, and so on are essential to society," commented someone under one of Dr. Friedman's videos.

Several people commended Dr. Friedman for continuing to teach as he stands outside of the school that fired him, holding court. "Honestly, the fact that this many college students show up when they are not getting any credit for this 'class' shows how powerful his lessons are and how admired he is as a teacher," said one person.