Taylor Lorenz in the spotlight again, apologizes for falsely claiming Drudge Report editor harassed her
Just hours after controversial The Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz said that she was being 'relentlessly harassed' by an editor at Drudge Report, she was forced to walk back the claim. Lorenz, who is an 'internet culture' columnist for The Washington Post, recently tweeted that an editor for Drudge Report had been "calling and texting me relentlessly for the past couple of weeks."
In the tweets that have now been deleted, Lorenz wrote that the editor then "called my personal cellphone number, yelled at me when I asked him to leave me alone and said he would "blast my name all over Drudge Report until it ruins my career." However, when CNN senior editor Oliver Darcy contacted founder Matt Drudge, he said that he "never contacted her, nor has anyone associated with Drudge Report." He further said that when he sent an email to Lorenz asking for correction, she deleted her tweets about the alleged harassment, eventually posting a clarification.
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"For anyone who saw my post abt this man claiming to be from Drudge calling me nonstop, good news: I heard from Matt Drudge and this man has zero power over Drudge. He's claiming to be an editor all over the Internet, but he's not," Lorenz tweeted, adding, "Sorry to disappoint everyone saying Drudge is based."
The Daily Mail quoted a statement from the Washington Post, where a spokesman clarified, "Taylor was repeatedly contacted by someone who claimed to be a Drudge editor. As soon as she learned the person had no connection to the Drudge Report, she deleted the original tweet, and wrote a tweet apologizing for her comment." Lorenz also allegedly told CNN that her initial tweets on the harassment were only meant as a 'joke'. She apparently found the idea that someone at Drudge could harm her career 'hilarious'. She said that she was "laughing very hard about the idea" and was just joking, telling Darcy, "I am happy to correct the record that I have no drama with Drudge Report."
In now-deleted tweets, Lorenz wrote, "I just got a good laugh over the idea Drudge Report would have any impact on my career lol. Lol I didn't even know Drudge Report was even still around." "I still think someone claiming to ruin my career on the Drudge Report is objectively hilarious," she continued, noting, "I know you're thirsty for media news, maybe u can report on someone claiming to destroy me on Geocities next."
This is not the first time Lorenz is in the midst of a controversy. Lorenz, along with The New York Times, were sued in August 2021 by influencer talent agent and entrepreneur Ariadna Jacob for defamation in relation to an August 2020 article about her company, Influences.com. In a lawsuit filed, Jacob claimed that the article contained "numerous false and disparaging statements" about her and her business. Jacob alleged that it was falsely claimed that she leaked nude images of one of her clients, and hiked up the rent on her "content house" tenants. Jacob claimed that she lost as many as 85 clients after the article was published.
In another instance, The Washington Post published an article by Lorenz on the Twitter account 'Libs of TikTok' last month. The article publicized the account owner's identity, Chaya Raichik, an Orthodox Jew who worked in real estate. American conservatives criticized the article, accusing Lorenz of antisemitism for mentioning Raichik's religion. Accusing Lorenz of doxxing, Raichik said in an interview with political commentator Tucker Carlson on Fox News that the columnist is "a known hypocrite" who is "known to dox people."