TZM apologized for laughter that was heard in their newsroom the moment political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated.
In video posted on social media, cheering and clapping was audible during a livestream in the media outlet’s headquarters.
Harvey Levin, who founded the celebrity news website, and producer Charles Latibeaudiere. said the applause had nothing to do with the deadly shooting.
We want to address something that happened during our TMZ Livestream coverage of the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Levin and Latibeaudiere noted in a story TMZ posted after the shooting.
As Harvey and Charles were reporting the developments in our newsroom, there were employees in another part of the building watching a car chase,” according to the story. “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. 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.”
Some people on social media criticized the laughter, as well as the apology, accusing TMZ of fabricating news about a high-speed chase.
“No one believes you,” one person wrote.
Actor James Woods shared the footage and added two words to the post: Bull and sh*t.
Another person shared a post that appeared to show news about the chase, while others praised TMZ for clarifying what happened.
“Very brave and upstanding for you to do this. another Account on had X pointed out the laughter and I was pretty upset. So I’m pretty happy that I don’t have to turn away from TMZ because of you guys have entertained me in many ways. Freedom of Speech for all,” one man wrote.
Kirk, a 31-year-old political activist, was shot and killed in front of a large crowd as he spoke onstage during an event at Utah Valley University.
Authorities are hunting for Kirk’s killer. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released two photos of a person of interest, with the agency announcing the weapon likely used in the assassination was a high-powered rifle.
The FBI also said it is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for Kirk’s murder.
The agency urged the public to call 1-800-CALL-FBI, as well as submit photos and videos of the scene, at tips.fbi.gov.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source komonews.com ’
