Former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz said she felt “joy” over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — doubling down on her unsettling defense of the gruesome execution that left two children without a father.
The tech reporter appeared on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” on Monday to defend her controversial social media posts celebrating Thompson’s killing.
“Why would you be in such a celebratory mood about the execution of another human being?” Morgan asks the journalist. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the caring, sharing left where, you know, you believe in the sanctity of life?”
Lorenz responds that she does “believe in the sanctity of life” but that is ultimately why “I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately.”
Morgan’s jaw drops at the unexpected response, before he hits back: “Joy!? Serious? Joy at a man’s execution?”
Lorenz then attempts to backtrack, telling Morgan, “Maybe not joy, but certainly not empathy.”
However, the television host continued to grill Lorenz, asking, “How can this make you joyful? 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?”
Lorenz, seeming to become more worked up again over her stance, tells Morgan, “So are the tens of thousands of Americans that he murdered!”
“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 health care,” she argues.
Morgan then asks if all the health care executives should be killed, wondering if that would make Lorenz “even more joyful.”
Lorenz breaks into laughter, telling Morgan, “Uh, no.” He then shoots back, “Well, why not? Why are you laughing? You seem to find the whole thing hilarious. A bloke’s been murdered in the street. I don’t find it funny at all.”
“I don’t find it funny that tens of thousands of Americans die every year because they are denied life-saving health care from people like the CEO,” Lorenz says, later noting that while she does not think vigilante justice is the way to solve the issue, it’s a “good thing” the murder has highlighted persistent problems with health care in America.
Lorenz later tries to take back saying she felt “joy” in the CEO’s death, telling Morgan, “Don’t say I’m joyful.”
“You said you were feeling joyful,” Morgan replies.
“Yeah, I take that back. Joyful is the wrong word here,” she admits. “I indicated it’s celebratory because it feels like justice in this system.”
