Ex-WaPo reporter defends post advocating for the death of health insurance executives: "It's natural to wish"

On Thursday, Taylor Lorenz, a former Washington Post reporter, reiterated her controversial remarks about the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

On Wednesday, a video was released that showed Thompson being shot and killed at close range outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, New York. The suspect is still on the run.

Following the news of his passing, Lorenz posted on Bluesky, "People wonder why we want these executives dead," alongside a report about Blue Cross Blue Shield no longer covering anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries.

Lorenz posted images of Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Kim Keck and encouraged others to target health insurance executives.

The next day after her controversial post about deceased executives, Lorenz defended herself in comments to Planet Chronicle Digital and then wrote a lengthy defense in a Substack post.

Lorenz denied that she was advocating for the murder of more top executives before appearing to justify her harsh comments from the previous day.

"To clarify, my post is written in the collective 'we' and is expressing the public sentiment. It is not me personally advocating for the execution of executives, but rather explaining the frustration of thousands of Americans, including myself, with our inhumane healthcare system and the leaders who profit off of the suffering of millions."

If you have witnessed a loved one's death due to an insurance company's denial of life-saving treatment as a cost-cutting measure, it's natural to wish that the people running such companies would experience the same fate.

The post contained a celebratory image of a smiling star and balloons with the text, "CEO DOWN."

Her post stated that people have a justified hatred towards insurance company CEOs due to their responsibility for an enormous amount of death and suffering. She believed it was important to expose the broken system and those in power who supported it, not with the intention of harming them, but to bring about change and hold individuals accountable for their actions.

While some online commentary has promoted violence, Lorenz argued that the media had failed to examine the systemic cruelty of our health care system, which motivated these sentiments.

On Thursday, she continued to repost social media content likening Thompson to a mass murderer.

Despite being responsible for more US citizen deaths than all serial killers combined, Brian Thompson was viewed as a successful businessman and morally upright individual due to his ability to profit from his actions.

In October, Lorenz departed from The Washington Post and established her User Magazine Substack. As a far-left writer, she has a history of working at the New York Times and has been involved in several internet disputes.

Earlier this week, she went viral for expressing her extreme fear of COVID-19 and claiming that people not wearing masks in 2024 were "raw-dogging the air."

Planet Chronicle' Lindsay Kornick and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.