Taylor Lorenz leaves Washington Post following her Biden 'war criminal' post controversy
Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz announced she has left the paper weeks after she went viral over an Instagram post calling President Biden a "war criminal."
Reporter Taylor Lorenz announced she left The Washington Post on Tuesday after being absent for weeks following a viral controversy involving her calling President Biden a "war criminal."
Lorenz went viral in August after a screenshot obtained by the New York Post's Jon Levine appeared to show her calling President Biden a "war criminal" in an Instagram post while attending a White House event. Lorenz initially implied the caption was edited by someone else before admitting that she shared the post herself.
As part of the launch of her User Magazine Substack, she explained "why I'm leaving legacy media," saying her type of reporting "has become increasingly difficult to do in corporate media."
The Post confirmed her exit.
"We are grateful for the work Taylor has produced at The Washington Post. She has resigned to pursue a career in independent journalism, and we wish her the best," a spokesperson for The Washington Post told Fox News Digital.
For several weeks, The Post remained mum about whether Lorenz had been suspended from the paper over the controversy. Lorenz had not had anything published since Aug. 7. A spokesperson from the paper previously said it was "looking into" Lorenz's post but did not provide any updates until Oct. 1, confirming Lorenz's exit from the paper.
Lorenz previously told Fox News Digital that she was on an overseas vacation and implied she would be back to work at The Post the week of Sept. 30.
Meanwhile, Lorenz has remained active via her personal Substack newsletter as well as her podcast, which is produced by Vox.
It remains unclear whether Lorenz was officially suspended over her Instagram post.
The controversy began when Lorenz attended the White House Creator Economy Conference last month, where Biden made an appearance.
In the viral image shared by Levine, a masked Lorenz was seen taking a selfie with Biden speaking in the background. Included was a caption that read "War criminal" with a frowny face.
Fox News Digital learned the post was made in an Instagram story specifically using the "close friends" feature as indicated by the green star icon, meaning it was not posted publicly and could only have been seen by a select group of Instagram users of her choosing.
Lorenz initially denied the post's authenticity, replying to Levine, "You people will fall for any dumba-- edit someone makes."
However, not only did Lorenz later admit it was real, she insisted it was a joke.
"I literally never denied it was real,'" Lorenz told one critic on X. She told another that it was an "obvious meme."
There had been speculation online that Lorenz was making an obscure reference to musician Lucy Dacus, who called former President Obama a "war criminal" on social media last year, also with a frowny face.
NPR previously reported that "four people with direct knowledge" of the post "confirmed its authenticity."
"Only about 7 people saw the actual close friends post (I have very few people on CF) and almost all are my normie non-media friends. So [I don't know] who this guy is talking about [to be honest]," Lorenz reacted to NPR's reporting.
Biden has been repeatedly attacked by the far-left for his handling of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, with many deriding him as "Genocide Joe" for continuing to provide military aid to the Jewish State following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Lorenz, known for her far-left opinions, is a fierce critic of Israel.
Lorenz has a long history of sparking controversy on social media, as well as in her reporting tactics.
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