The prominent technology reporter, Taylor Lorenz, is facing a deluge of backlash for claiming that she felt “joy” over the murder of former UnitedHealthcare chief executive, Brian Tompson. The incident marks just the latest controversy for Ms. Lorenz who, in October, separated from the Washington Post after she appeared to post on social media that President Biden was “a war criminal”, then gave inconsistent and allegedly false explanations to the Post’s internal affairs investigators, claiming the posts were doctored or made by someone else. 

Ms. Lorenz’s “joy” comments came on n Monday night when she was questioned by Piers Morgan, during his “Uncensored” talkshow, about a social media post that she shared shortly after the news emerged of Tompson’s death, in which the journalist mused: “And people wonder why we want these executives dead.” 

Ms. Lorenz responded to Mr. Morgan’s question by doubling down on her remark, adding that, “I do believe in the sanctity of life and I think that’s why I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately.” After Mr. Morgan appeared visibly shocked by her answer, Ms. Lorenz couched her statement by adding, “Maybe not joy but certainly not empathy.”

Mr. Morgan questioned “how could this make you joyful?” before adding “this guy is a husband, he’s a father, and he’s been gunned down in the middle of Manhattan. Why does that make you joyful?”

Ms. Lorenz shot back by claiming “So are the tens of thousands of Americans, innocent Americans, who died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push a policy of denying care to the most vulnerable people, and I am a part of the many millions of Americans that have watched people that I care about suffer and in some cases die because of lack of healthcare.” 

Though when Mr. Morgan asked her if she thought that every healthcare executive deserved to be killed, Ms. Lorenz chuckled and responded, “No.” She giggled again when fellow panelist, conservative commentator, Tomi Lahren, said that Ms. Lorenz had gone too far in claiming that she didn’t feel any empathy for Tompson. 

Her bouts of laughter appeared to irk the talkshow host, who, at one point, interrupted Ms. Lahren to address Ms. Lorenz, blurting out: “why the f**** are you laughing all the time? I don’t get it. Sorry, apologies for my language, but honestly I find it unbelievable! What are you laughing at?” 

Although by the end of the interview, Ms. Lorenz took back her use of “joyful,” calling it “the wrong word,” the video went viral and scores of political commentators condemned Ms. Lorenz for her crass comment. 

That same night, it was reported by Semafor that Vox Media had decided to not renew its deal to distribute Ms. Lorenz’s podcast and YouTube show. Vox sources insisted to Semafor that the decision was made before Ms. Lorenz’s disastrous talkshow stint, and, according to Puck, may have actually been connected to the social media incident which led to her firing from the Post. 

Ms. Lorenz, a frequent target of Tucker Carlson before his exit from Fox News, has long been a lightning rod due to controversial comments that put her outside the norms of the prestigious media organizations where she worked. In 2022, she raised eyebrows when she left a prime perch at the New York Times for the Washington Post, where observers speculated she’d be granted more breathing space as well as more outside income opportunities that the New York Times’ strict ethics rules forbade. But Ms. Lorenz was soon running into controversies at the Post, which re-classified her as a “columnist” from a news reporter. 

After leaving the Post, Ms. Lorenz went “independent,” launching her own Substack column, “User Magazine,” which she branded as an opportunity to “pursue the type of reporting on the internet that has become increasingly difficult to do in corporate media.” Most of her content has initially been free, though she’s started a paid subscription tier.

In a post announcing her new platform, Ms. Lorenz claimed that it had become “clear” to her that “legacy media is not the right primary environment for the kind of work that I want to do.” By going independent, she averred, “I hope to do more of what I love: helping people understand the world around them, inspiring them to build a better internet, holding power to account, and honestly, having a lot more fun.”