There have been conflicting reports about whether Vox Media is ending its partnership with tech journalist Taylor Lorenz to distribute her podcast and YouTube show.
Semafor reported Monday that progressive media company Vox decided not to renew its short-term deal with Lorenz and her show, Power User, which was set to expire at the start of next year.
Steve Guest, a former spokesperson for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, said that Vox had fired Lorenz following her recent online comments that appeared to celebrate the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“Vox fires Taylor Lorenz. Apparently it was too much for Vox to have someone on their payroll that thinks, ‘Yes, ‘we’ want insurance executives dead,'” Guest posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The decision is said to have been made prior to Lorenz’s posts on Thompson, according to Semafor.
Lorenz denied the reports, writing on X that Power User is her independent show and “not a Vox show; there’s no ‘deal’ that has been ended.”
Newsweek has contacted Vox, Semafor, and Lorenz via email and social media outside of regular working hours for comment.
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Earlier this month, Lorenz faced scrutiny for posts on BlueSky that appeared to praise the December 4 shooting of Thompson in New York.
In one reply to a post about Blue Cross Blue Shield’s decision to stop covering anesthesia for the full length of certain surgeries, Lorenz, a former Washington Post columnist, wrote: “And people wonder why we want these executives dead.”
In another post, Lorenz replied “ENDORSE” to a suggestion that health care executives should be required to rely on the cheapest insurance plans their company offers.
In a December 5 blog post titled “Why ‘We’ Want Insurance Executives Dead,” Lorenz said her comments reflected the immediate “public sentiment” surrounding Thompson’s death.
“Let me be super clear: my post uses a collective ‘we’ and is explaining the public sentiment. It is not me personally saying ‘I want these executives dead and so we should kill them,'” wrote Lorenz. “I am explaining that thousands of Americans (myself included) are fed up with our barbaric healthcare system and the people at the top who rake in millions while inflicting pain, suffering, and death on millions of innocent people.”
“If you have watched a loved one die because an insurance conglomerate denied their life-saving treatment as a cost-cutting measure, yes, it’s natural to wish that the people who run such conglomerates would suffer the same fate,” Lorenz wrote.
In a series of posts on X, Lorenz criticized Semafor journalist Max Tani’s report about her podcast.
“This is false, and Vox doesn’t own or distribute my YouTube podcast. I do! Literally begging any of these idiots to understand how the internet works. My show is not a Vox show; there’s no ‘deal’ that has been ended. Max Tani is a hack,” she wrote.
“It’s infuriating that Tani would print false info, mislead people into thinking something happened with my show (literally nothing has changed), then try to backtrack when caught in a lie & couch [with] ‘well her deal expires in 2025.’ Again, [without] knowing the structure of the deal.”
In a statement to Mediaite, Lorenz added: “Power User is my show. I own 100 percent of Power User and distribute it myself on YouTube. I own my show outright and all of the IP related to Power User.
“No media company or entity other than me can ever make a decision about Power User. Vox has been an amazing partner in helping me get the show off the ground, and nothing in terms of my relationship with the company has changed. Semafor falsely claimed Vox was ‘ending its deal to distribute’ my show and linked to my YouTube,” she added.
“Again, I distribute my own show on YouTube. It is published to my YouTube channel, not Vox’s. Vox has not ended anything, and I continue to work with them. The next episode of Power User will be out on Thursday.”
On Monday night, Lorenz told the YouTube show Piers Morgan Uncensored that she and other Americans felt “joy, unfortunately” over Thompson’s death.
When pressed by Morgan, Lorenz said: “Maybe not joy, but certainly not empathy.”
Vox Media announced in February that it was partnering with Lorenz to launch the Power User video podcast. It is described as a technology and internet culture show where Lorenz “explores the most influential stories that Silicon Valley often ignores.”
Luigi Mangione, 26, has been charged with the murder of Thompson. Mangione was arrested after being recognized at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Mangione did not enter a plea during his first court appearance Monday in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He has been remanded in custody after being deemed a flight risk.
