TMZ scrambled to save face after staffers were heard erupting into laughter the moment Charlie Kirk’s death was confirmed during its livestream.
A clip of the celebrity gossip outlet’s livestream sparked outrage on social media after newsroom staffers cheered and clapped in the background as reporters on camera covered the assassination.
Seconds later, Levin is told by staff members around him that President Trump said that Kirk had died after the shooting at Utah Valley University.
TMZ founder Harvey Levin and executive producer Charles Latibeaudiere said that the “tone deaf laughter” was from journalists who were covering a car chase.
“We were livestreaming all day during this tragedy, when something happened in our office,” Levin said in a video statement late Wednesday.
“‘As we were reporting the assassination of Charlie Kirk, there were some people in the back room — away from our news desk here — who were watching a car chase, and they were laughing. They were clapping. And you could hear it out here.”
Levin assured that his staff were not “laughing, reacting that way” to the news of Kirk’s death.
“They would not work here if they did,” Levin firmly stated.
Latibeaudiere chimed in, saying TMZ acknowledges that it was “horrible timing.”
Here’s the latest on the Charlie Kirk shooting in Utah
“And for that, we are sorry,” Latibeaudiere wholeheartedly said.
“We apologize,” Levin added.
Both celebrity watchdogs said they understood why people were outraged after listening to the section of the livestream.
“No one was laughing at the Charlie Kirk tragedy,” Latibeaudiere shared.
