Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz has been accused of branding Joe Biden a “war criminal” on social media. The 40-year-old journalist came under fire after a screenshot of her controversial Instagram story went viral. In the screengrab, Lorenz had written “war criminal” over her selfie featuring the US president in the background.
Taylor Lorenz accused of calling Biden ‘war criminal’
In the selfie, which was taken at the White House Creator Economy Conference on Wednesday, Lorenz can be seen wearing a mask as Biden spoke to the crowd behind her. The photo was shared via the close friends feature on Instagram and was first obtained by NY Post's Jonathan Levine.
Amid the severe backlash regarding her choice of words against Biden, Lorenz denied the credibility of the photo. “You people will fall for any dumba** edit someone makes,” she told Levine, per Fox News. However, the Post reporter wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “She's denying it's real, but she has a long history of lying about things like this — and it came to me from someone reliable. So take it as you will.”
Washington Post ‘looking into’ accusations against Taylor Lorenz
{{/usCountry}}Amid the severe backlash regarding her choice of words against Biden, Lorenz denied the credibility of the photo. “You people will fall for any dumba** edit someone makes,” she told Levine, per Fox News. However, the Post reporter wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “She's denying it's real, but she has a long history of lying about things like this — and it came to me from someone reliable. So take it as you will.”
Washington Post ‘looking into’ accusations against Taylor Lorenz
{{/usCountry}}In the wake of the incident, a spokesperson for the Washington Post told NPR, “Our executive editor and senior editors take alleged violations of our standards seriously. We’re aware of the alleged post and are looking into it.” In addition to the NY Post, NPR also obtained a screenshot of Lorenz's “actual post” and confirmed that it did contain the controversial caption.
Additionally, four people who had “direct knowledge” of Lorenz's post, in which she branded Biden a “war criminal,” confirmed its authenticity to the outlet. “They spoke to NPR on condition they not be identified due to the professional sensitivity of the situation for Lorenz,” the outlet explained.