BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A science professor at a university in Michigan who claimed sinister forces were targeting him and breaking into his home has been fired after using racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs months ago on Twitter.  

The Detroit News reported that Thomas Brennan announced in a Twitter posting Saturday he’d been fired. Ferris State University later confirmed his dismissal last week but declined further comment.

The university’s student-run newspaper, The Torch, first reported about the tweets in November. Brennan was put on administrative leave at the time.

In a statement linked in his Saturday posting, Brennan expressed remorse for the tweets. But he said they were a consequence of self-destructive behavior that stemmed from a “secret program” targeting him.