LOS ANGELES - OCT 25: Piers Morgan arrives for the 2019 British Academy Britannia Awards on October 25, 2019 in Beverly Hills, CA (Photo credit: DFree / Shutterstock)
A prominent British broadcaster and former CNN anchor clashed with a former Washington Post tech columnist during a tense exchange over reaction to the killing of a health insurance CEO's killing in Manhattan.
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The moment came after tech journalist Taylor Lorenz, who founded the Substack "User Mag" and has been credited with popularizing terms including "OK Boomer," told a panel Monday on "Piers Morgan Uncensored" that she felt "joy" upon learning the CEO of UnitedHealthcare was gunned down.
"I do believe in the sanctity of life. I think that's why I felt along with so many other Americans joy unfortunately because it feels like — " she said.
Stunned by the statement, Morgan interjected, "Joy? Seriously? Joy in the man's execution?"
"I guess I would say, maybe not joy but certainly not empathy," she said.
Morgan cut off his guest again, playing the footage of the assassination for viewers and demanding to know, "How can this make you joyful?" He noted the victim, Brian Thompson is a husband and father.
Lorenz insisted that Thompson isn't the only victim — thousands of Americans die due to the health insurance industry.
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"So are tens of thousands of Americans who died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push policies of denying care to the most vulnerable people. And I [inaudible] the many millions of Americans that have watched the people that I care about suffer and in some cases die because of lack of health care."
Morgan pounced on her comment and asked if all health care executives ought to be killed.
"Would that make you even more joyful?" he retorted.
"Uh, no that would not," Lorenz began with a small chuckle, only to be interrupted again by Morgan.
"Well, why not? Why are you laughing?" he asked.
"Because, Piers, it wouldn't fix the system," she started to respond.
But Morgan didn't let up.
"You seem to find the whole thing hilarious," he continued.
"I find your question funny," she replied.
"A bloke's been murdered in the street. I don't find it funny at all," he replied.
Lorenz repeated that she doesn't find it funny that tens of thousands of Americans die each year because they're denied "life-saving health care from people like this CEO."
"You're right, we shouldn't be going around shooting each other with vigilante justice. No. I think that it is a good thing that this murder has led to America, er, the media elites and politicians in this country paying attention to this issue for the first time."
Lorenz continued noting Morgan said he couldn't understand why people would celebrate the killing.
"It's because you have not dealt, it sounds like, with the American health care system in the way that millions of other Americans have," she said.
Morgan rejected her statement and said he has dealt with the American health care system, and while he doesn't find it perfect, he would never celebrate the assassination.
"The idea that I would view it as something 'joyful' that a man who's just a health care executive has just been executed in the street I find completely bizarre," he said.
A report published in August by The Commonwealth Fund found that 45 percent of insured, working-age adults reported receiving a medical bill or being charged a copayment in the past year for a service they thought should have been free or covered by their insurance. Seventeen percent of respondents said their insurer denied care coverage that was recommended by their doctor, and more than half of those said neither they nor their doctor challenged that denial.
Additionally, nearly 60 percent of adults who experienced a coverage denial said their care was delayed as a result.
Watch the clip below or at this link.