Taylor Lorenz says she ‘felt joy’ after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO
Taylor Lorenz went on Piers Morgan and said that she “felt, along with so many other Americans, joy” after the cold-blooded murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The suspect in his killing, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, was caught on Monday in Altoona, PA and charged. To face murder charges, he will need to be expedited to New York.
“I do believe in the sanctity of life,” she told Morgan, “and that’s why I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately, because it feels like—” Morgan had the good sense to be incredulous, and she continued. “I mean to say, maybe not joy, but certainly not empathy, because again, this is a man responsible for deaths.”
“How can this make you joyful?” Morgan asked, showing footage of the shooting, noting that he’s a husband and father of two.
“So are the tens of thousands of Americans that he’s murdered,” she said, “innocent Americans who died because greedy health insurance executives push policies denying care to the most vulnerable people. And I,” she continued, “am one 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.”
She said she wasn’t calling for the death of health insurance executives as Morgan pushed and called her out for laughing. Lorenze said she “wants to fix the system” and decried “vigilante justice.” She said the murder called attention to the issues of the American healthcare system.
Last week, Lorenz experienced backlash for saying “And people wonder why we want these executives dead” after Thompson’s murder. Her comments were in response to BlueCross BlueShield changing a policy to not cover anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries, but she later doubled-down on her animus for Thompson. The health insurance giant also changed their policy.
The day after the shooting, Lorenz posted a picture of the Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO, Kim Keck, after the murder of Thompson, which some suggested was suggestive of targeting her with violence. Lorenz later clarified her statements and posts from last week and said that she was not calling for the murder of other healthcare CEOs but wanted to start a letter campaign targeting the executives at insurance companies.
Last week, she posted, “People have very justified hatred toward insurance company CEOs because these executives are responsible for an unfathomable amount of death and suffering,” as well as shared a post that called for sending emails to health insurance executives, saying “you’re next.”
Later in the broadcast, Morgan played back her comment and Lorenz took offense, claiming that she was cut off and therefore taken out of context. Lorenz said that she didn’t mean to say that she felt joy about the man’s death but rather that she felt joy that privileged people like Morgan would be forced to confront the realities of the health care system as a result of the story.
Morgan called her explanation “bullsh*t”, quipping “I knew it would be my fault, as well, at some stage.”