Vox Media is ending its deal to distribute former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz’s podcast and YouTube show after the journalist made a slew of explosive comments about the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a source close to the situation confirmed.
Semafor scribe Max Tani, who first reported the news, revealed late Sunday that the controversial tech columnist had a short-term partnership that is set to expire at the beginning of the year.
Lorenz took to social media on Monday ripping the report as “100% false,” claiming media reporters “lie” about her as she vowed to discuss the situation on her podcast this week.
“This is 100% false and I’m very much still working with Vox, and my show is not up for ‘renewal’ because I actually own 100% of the show and control the distribution, not Vox. Media reporters continue to lie about me! Tune into the pod this week where I’ll discuss :),” she wrote on X.
Vox declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Semafor hit back, saying: “As Max Tani accurately reported, Vox is ending its relationship with Taylor Lorenz in 2025. You can read that story here.”
A source with knowledge of the deal confirmed the report to The Post, adding that Lorenz’s deal will expire at the beginning of 2025.
The person did not elaborate why Vox wasn’t renewing Lorenz’s contract, but there has been a cloud of controversy surrounding the columnist recently.
Just last week, Lorenz sparked outrage when she defended her comments about the cold-blooded murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“And people wonder why we want these executives dead,” Lorenz wrote on BlueSky, a microblogging social media network, alongside an article about how Blue Cross Blue Shield will no longer cover anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries.
The tech reporter made the dark declaration just hours after Thompson, 50, was gunned down outside a Midtown hotel, leaving his two sons without a father.
She later shared another user’s post stating, “Hypothetically, would it be considered an actionable threat to start emailing other insurance CEOs a simple ‘you’re next’? Completely unrelated to current events btw.”
Lorenz, who recently launched her own publication, User Mag, went on to support the criticism of Thompson and other company executives.
“People have very justified hatred toward insurance company CEOs because these executives are responsible for an unfathomable amount of death and suffering. As someone against death and suffering, I think it’s good to call out this broken system and the ppl in power who enable it,” she wrote.
The journalist attempted to downplay her commentary several hours later, insisting she only meant to encourage “peaceful letter-writing campaigns.”
According to the Semafor report, Vox, which owns outlets like New York Magazine, Vulture, Intelligencer and The Cut, made the decision to cut ties with Lorenz before those inflammatory comments.
called President Biden a “war criminal.”
It is unclear, however, if they were swayed by another recent firestorm over Lorenz’s social media post in August, in which she called President Biden a “war criminal.”
Lorenz, who had served as a tech columnist for The Washington Post at the time, came under fire after New York Post reporter Jon Levine posed a photo on X that Lorenz had uploaded to her Instagram account while attending a White House event featuring Biden in August.
The selfie showed her wearing a COVID mask with Biden in the background that was captioned “war criminal.”
The Washington Post launched an internal review about the social media post.
Lorenz initially claimed the image was digitally altered, writing on social media: “You people will fall for any dumbass edit someone makes.”
She also told her editors the photo was a forgery. But National Public Radio confirmed the authenticity of the image.
Lorenz ultimately left The Washington Post in October. The results of the newspaper’s investigation were not released.
