WaPo’s Taylor Lorenz Removed From Features Staff After False Claims In Story: Report

Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz, who controversially revealed the identity of the woman who owns popular Twitter account Libs of TikTok, has been removed from the features staff at the newspaper and placed on the technology team, three sources told The New York Times.

The report comes after the Post had to make two corrections earlier this month to Lorenz’s story on content creators and the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial.

“Ms. Lorenz has been moved from the features staff to the technology team, according to three people with knowledge of the move,” the Times wrote, adding that Senior Managing Editor Cameron Barr “has been asked to review her articles before publication, two of the people said.”

Fox News asked the Post if Lorenz’s move means she will now be considered a reporter instead of a columnist, but the newspaper declined to comment.

In her piece published June 2, Lorenz inaccurately attributed a comment to Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman. She also failed to reach out to YouTuber ThatUmbrellaGuy, even though she wrote that both content creators Alyte Mazeika and ThatUmbrellaGuy did not respond to a request for comment, Fox News reported.

A note at the bottom of the problematic story said that it had been “updated to clarify comments made during Waldman’s testimony,” but initially, no correction was admitted when the Post edited out Lorenz’s claim that Mazeika and ThatUmbrellaGuy did not respond to a request for comment.

The Post later issued a correction on the request for comment, writing, “The story has also been amended to note The Post’s attempts to reach Alyte Mazeika and ThatUmbrellaGuy for comment. Previous versions omitted or inaccurately described these attempts.”

In a final effort to make things right, the Post mentioned its failure to provide readers with a note when Lorenz’s false claim was first corrected. “The Post removed the incorrect statement from the story but did not note its removal, a violation of our corrections policy,” the newspaper explained. “The story has been updated to note that Mazeika declined to comment for this story and ThatUmbrellaGuy could not be reached for comment.”

The leftist newspaper has also been dealing with internal drama related to a retweet from one of its employees that sparked outrage. 

Earlier this month, reporter David Weigel retweeted a sexist joke that got on the nerves of fellow reporter Felicia Sonmez, who took her frustration with Weigel and the newspaper public. Weigel was suspended a month without pay for the social media post, and Sonmez was later fired.