It looks like the queen of liberal cancel culture has finally gotten herself canceled.
Taylor Lorenz, the controversial former Washington Post and New York Times reporter who recently went independent, is not getting her podcast distribution deal with Vox Media renewed amid a series of vile comments and non-apologies regarding the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Thompson was killed in New York City last Wednesday. On Monday, a suspect — described as a virulent anti-capitalist with an Ivy League education who had expressed sympathies for the writings of “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski — was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, the New York Post reported.
In the interim, however, Lorenz was active in celebrating on her BlueSky account — posting a message saying, “And people wonder why we want these executives dead,” according to Mediaite, along with reposting images with messages like CEO DOWN” and “Healthcare Executive DOWN!”
In a column, she would later go on to defend her remarks, claiming — I can’t make this up — conservative media “pounced” on her remarks.
“Naturally, the mainstream media began pearl clutching in outrage,” Lorenz wrote.
“After I posted a quote tweet about insurance companies no longer paying for certain anesthesia with the phrase, ‘And people wonder why we want these executives dead,’ legacy media outlets including Fox News pounced and wrote a slew of articles about my ‘calls for violence.’
“Let me be super clear: my post uses a collective ‘we’ and is explaining the public sentiment. It is not me personally saying ‘I want these executives dead and so we should kill them.’ I am explaining that thousands of Americans (myself included) are fed up with our barbaric healthcare system and the people at the top who rake in millions while inflicting pain, suffering, and death on millions of innocent people,” she added.
“If you have watched a loved one die because an insurance conglomerate has denied their life saving treatment as a cost cutting measure, yes, it’s natural to wish that the people who run such conglomerates would suffer the same fate.”
Was Vox right to sack Lorenz?
Still, it’s not going to help her to get a new distribution deal for her podcast, which is being dropped by Vox Media, according to a Sunday Semafor report.
And, while it’s worth noting the decision was apparently made before her remarks — the deal was only a “short-term partnership with the high-profile tech reporter that is set to expire at the beginning of the year,” Semafor’s Max Tani noted — the reason why they’re not sticking with her is because she pulls stuff like this.
“The company announced its partnership with Lorenz earlier this year in Axios, which dubbed the distribution deal a ‘huge win’ for the company, as it tried to partner with premiere podcast talent on distribution, monetization and strategy,” Tani wrote.
“Still, while Lorenz remains one of the most talked-about journalists in digital media, her social media persona is a magnet for criticism both for her and for media companies associated with her.
“Vox’s decision not to renew the show was made before Lorenz’s comments this week, in which she appeared to justify the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO as an expression of public discontent.”
In other words, while this just a non-renewal, considering the hubbub the distribution deal created when it was announced, it amounts to a sacking. And just in case you thought that this might have dissuaded Lorenz from being similarly insufferable or backtracking on her statements regarding Thompson’s murder: Nope!
This was also on Monday:
“I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy…”
Piers Morgan is left astounded as Taylor Lorenz gives her thoughts on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
📺 https://t.co/4ZCtndddDg@piersmorgan | @TaylorLorenz pic.twitter.com/46OAoZmRG9
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) December 9, 2024
Lorenz made her name as a cancel-culture maven, most famously doxing the woman behind the Libs of TikTok account. Yet, she infamously broke down in tears on MSNBC after she got called out from being called a “journalistic tattletale” by Glenn Greenwald, among others, claiming she had “severe PTSD” from online harassment.
But killing CEOs? Joyful, apparently. This all couldn’t have happened to a better person, in other words.
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