Gossip and entertainment website TMZ scrambled late Wednesday after extremist influencer Laura Loomer accused their staffers of whooping it up just as far-right conservative Charlie Kirk had died.
In a livestream clip she shared on X, laughter and clapping can be heard before the news was delivered, with Loomer writing: “DISGUSTING: During the @TMZ livestream today, employees at TMZ could be heard CHEERING 30 seconds before @charliekirk11’s death was announced on the TMZ livestream. They were happy to hear the news of Charlie Kirk’s death and can be heard clapping and cheering before passing the news to Harvey Levin, who was hosting the stream.”
She added, “@HarveyLevinTMZ needs to condemn this. I have clipped the livestream before they try to delete it. Shameful and disgusting behavior by TMZ. Shame on them. Charlie is a husband and a father. He was murdered in cold blood.”
In response, TMZ added a post on the their website, attributed to the entire staff, which insisted the background sounds were not about 31-year-old Kirk, who was shot in the neck at a Utah college and later died from his injuries.
The report explained, “We want to address something that happened during our TMZ Livestream coverage of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. As Harvey and Charles were reporting the developments in our newsroom, there were employees in another part of the building watching a car chase. The people watching that car chase began laughing and clapping in reaction to what they were seeing, but we want to make it clear ... they were not cheering in response to the assassination."
They added, “Nevertheless ... watching a car chase at that moment was tone deaf, and the sounds of laughter at that crucial moment were totally out of line. We apologize to anyone who heard that as we were in the middle of covering such a tragic story.”
TMZ also included a link to an ABC News report on the car chase that they found amusing.
You can read more here from TMZ.