Youtubers Claim WaPo’s Taylor Lorenz Lied about Requesting Comment for Hit Piece
Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz is facing scrutiny for allegedly lying in a recent piece about whether she had requested comment from two YouTube personalities who she accused of monetarily exploiting the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial.
In a story published Thursday, Lorenz, who recently gained notoriety for exposing the identity of the anti-woke Libs of TikTok Twitter account, claimed that a handful of “content creators” capitalized on the Hollywood actors’ courtroom drama to bolster their followings and revenue streams.
“The trial offered a potential glimpse into our future media ecosystem, where content creators serve as the personalities breaking news to an increasing numbers of viewers — and, in turn, define the online narrative around major events. Those creators can also bring in major personal profits in the process,” Lorenz wrote. “In this new landscape, every big news event becomes an opportunity to amass followers, money and clout. And the Depp-Heard trial showed how the creator-driven news ecosystem can influence public opinion based on platform incentives.”
Two social media figures whom Lorenz targeted, “LegalBytes” host Alyte Mazeika and an anonymous user named ThatUmbrellaGuy, say that that she never asked them for comment, even though she said she did in the piece. In the story, Lorenz said that “Mazeika and ThatUmbrellaGuy did not respond to requests for comment.”
“I can confirm that she did not reach out to me at all until I called her out on Twitter. After I did, she reached out to me by Twitter DM, providing her phone number for me to call her at some time. She never attempted to make an appointment or to facilitate a specific time to talk about the article,” Mazeika told National Review.
“Additionally, and I think importantly, she also left out the name of my channel and the fact that I’m an attorney. If she had included the name of my channel, it would have been clear that it isn’t so out of character for me to cover something like the Depp v. Heard trial, because I cover lawsuits and trials all the time,” Mazeika added.
Lorenz cited the reporting of Business Insider, which said Mazeika “earned $5,000 in one week by pivoting the content on her YouTube channel to nonstop trial coverage and analysis.” The columnist also alleged that ThatUmbrellaGuy “earned up to $80,000 last month, according to an estimate by social analytics firm Social Blade.”
Mazeika said that Lorenz mischaracterized the Business Insider article by making it seem like its author was depicting a situation in which she opportunistically pivoted to trial coverage in one week and suddenly reaped big profits as a result.
“In reality, I had been covering this case in the weeks leading up to the trial and had committed to live streaming and producing daily recaps of the trial every day for six weeks of trial,” Mazeika clarified. “I made that decision to commit to this trial long before it ever became clear that it would become the global phenomenon that it became.”
“It makes sense for me to cover a trial like Depp v. Heard because my channel is all about explaining the law through current events and pop culture so everyone can understand it,” she added.
After Lorenz’ piece went live, Mazeika and ThatUmbrellaGuy challenged her claim that she asked them for comment on Twitter.
“Um. This says I didn’t respond to requests to comment? I know I’ve gotten a lot of emails over the past two months, but I’ve just double checked for your name, @TaylorLorenz, and I see no email from you,” Mazeika tweeted. “Also, I didn’t suddenly pivot. I started covering this before trial began.”
Um. This says I didn’t respond to requests to comment? I know I’ve gotten a lot of emails over the past two months, but I’ve just double checked for your name, @TaylorLorenz, and I see no email from you.
Also, I didn’t suddenly pivot. I started covering this before trial began. https://t.co/7qHTrOsfHQ pic.twitter.com/yJzzqS8ggS
— Legal Bytes 🍽💙 (@legalbytesmedia) June 3, 2022
“Taylor Lorenz from The Washington Post reached out AFTER writing the story saying she’d reached out. She didn’t bother doing so until I called that out publicly. They also exaggerated the top earning portion and got the information about Adam Waldman factually wrong,” That Umbrella Guy tweeted.
Taylor Lorenz from The Washington Post reached out AFTER writing the story saying she’d reached out.
She didn’t bother doing so until I called that out publicly.
They also exaggerated the top earning portion and got the information about Adam Waldman factually wrong. https://t.co/mewx7XamYq
— ThatUmbrellaGuy (@ThatUmbrella) June 3, 2022
After the Youtubers brought Lorenz’ incorrect statement to the internet’s attention, the Washington Post appeared to quietly remove it, but without an editor’s note acknowledging the mistake.
