Ex-Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz continued her defense of alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO murderer Luigi Mangione in what many viewed as a “beyond vile” segment on CNN Sunday.
Lorenz spoke to “MisinfoNation” host Donie O’Sullivan about Mangione’s appeal to people, particularly for women. Mangione became something of a folk hero to the far-left after he was arrested for the murder of Brian Thompson, with some viewing it as a comeuppance for the greedy insurance industry.
“Here’s this man who’s a revolutionary, who’s famous, who’s handsome, who’s young, who’s smart, he’s a person who seems like he’s this morally good man, which is hard to find,” Lorenz teased in a snippet that was shared on X.
O’Sullivan jokingly added, “Yeah, I just realized women will literally date an assassin before they swipe right on me. That’s where we’re at.”
Lorenz, an independent journalist and former Washington Post reporter known for her numerous online controversies, was among those who appeared to sympathize with Thompson’s assailant last year. At one point, she posted, “People wonder why we want these executives dead,” in response to news about Blue Cross Blue Shield no longer covering anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries.
Many social media users were disgusted with the segment featuring Lorenz and O’Sullivan laughing, with most calling out CNN for airing a “heinous” defense of people who admire Mangione.
“CNN is now celebrating a fiery but mostly peaceful assassination of a husband and father,” conservative commentator Steve Guest wrote.
RedState writer Bonchie remarked, “This is a doughy CNN correspondent nodding approvingly while a psychopath asserts it’s fine to support cold-blooded murder for political reasons. This is CNN.”
“The only thing more embarrassing than being Taylor Lorenz is citing her as an authority in your show about *misinformation*. Yikes, mate,” Mediaite editor Isaac Schorr commented.
“This is beyond vile. Utterly heinous,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote.
“CNN is happy to call any opinions they don’t like harmful and dangerous and now they’re doing a interview with Taylor Lorenz who openly fawns over Luigi Mangione and calls him moral. Amazing what protection having the right political ideology buys,” OutKick writer Ian Miller commented.
The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller wrote, “I think we’re done here on your lectures of extremism as you sit there dodo eyed while she calls a literal assassin a moral guy.”
“Disgusting,” actor Dean Cain declared.
Fox News Digital reached out to CNN for comment.
During the clip, Lorenz also called out the mainstream media for “clutching their pearls” and pushing an out-of-touch “narrative.”
“It’s hilarious to see these millionaire media pundits on TV clutching their pearls about someone stanning a murderer when this is the United States of America, as if we don’t lionize criminals,” Lorenz said. “As if we don’t stan murderers of all sorts. And we give them Netflix shows. There’s a huge disconnect between the narratives and angles a certain mainstream media pushes and what the American public feels, and you see that in moments like this.”
Lorenz also touted getting an audience boost for her Substack publication User Mag due to her sympathetic writings about Mangione.
She added, “I can tell you I saw the biggest audience growth that I’ve ever seen [was] because people were like, ‘oh, somebody, some journalist is actually speaking the anger I feel.’”
Reached for comment, Lorenz claimed she was actually concerned about the growth of the “Free Luigi” movement and violent online rhetoric.
“I do think it’s really concerning that more people are essentially participating in these movements, but also just like casually comfortable with really violent kind of rhetoric. And obviously, our system is violent…but in normal, healthy democracies, you don’t generally see people talking, sort of celebrating this kind of violence,” Lorenz told Fox News Digital.
She added, “This Luigi movement is sort of indicative of some of that cynicism where you’re seeing people that are just really angry and upset with the system.”
TAYLOR LORENZ’S SYMPATHY WITH SUSPECTED UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO KILLER RAISES EYEBROWS
Lorenz has been called out for appearing to excuse and even romanticize Mangione’s actions since Thompson was killed, however. Only a few hours after the murder was reported, Lorenz wrote a post suggesting other healthcare executives should be targeted.
When discussing her post on Piers Morgan’s show days later, Lorenz again went viral after saying she felt “joy” after Thompson’s death.
“I do believe in the sanctity of life and I think that’s why I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately,” Lorenz told Morgan. “Maybe not joy but certainly not empathy.”
“How could this make you joyful?” Morgan asked. “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 later claimed that she was being mischaracterized in the media and meant that she found joy in elite pundits being forced to confront the “barbaric nature of our healthcare system.”
