WaPo Issues Corrections to Taylor Lorenz’s Article After Two Sources Accuse Her of False Reporting

The Washington Post issued a correction after two sources accused columnist Taylor Lorenz of falsely stating she reached out to them for comment Friday.

The outlet posted two corrections to Lorenz’s piece, “Who won the Depp-Heard trial? Content creators that went all-in,” stating that the article falsely attributed two YouTubers, Alyte Mazeika and ThatUmbrellaGuy, and Hollywood actor Johnny Depp’s attorney, Adam Waldman.

Mazeika and ThatUmbrellaGuy both said they never received an email or any form of contact from Lorenz in separate Twitter posts Thursday. She contacted the two internet users after the story had been published, they said in separate Twitter posts.

“Um. This says I didn’t respond to requests to comment? I know I’ve gotten a lot of email over the past two months, but I’ve just double checked for your name, @TaylorLorenz, and I see no email from you,” Mazeika tweeted.

ThatUmbrellaGuy said The Washington Post never reached out to him through email or Twitter direct messaging, then pointed to the alleged misrepresentation of Waldman’s quote about contacting Internet influencers.

“I’d like to see proof that Washington Post reached out to me, bc I got no email or Twitter DMs,” he wrote. “The Washington Post HEAVILY misrepresented what Adam Waldman said, too, and its hilarious considering how they characterize their reporting versus others reporting on cases that didn’t sell out to CORP brands.”

Lorenz reportedly contacted ThatUmbrellaGuy in an email over an hour after he called out the Post for never reaching out to him. The columnist sent the email at 9:44 p.m. asking about the YouTuber’s income, according to a photograph he posted to Twitter. In the article, she reported that he “earned up to $80,000” last month.

“The Washington Post LIED and DID NOT contact me before including me in their story on Johnny Depp, despite reporting they did so,” ThatUmbrella Guy posted.

The Post issued an Editor’s Note stating the piece “incorrectly” reported that Mazieka and ThatUmbrellaGuy were contacted for comment, noting that Lorenz only contacted Mazieka via Instagram before the column’s publication. The outlet has since updated the piece to note that Mazieka “declined to comment” and ThatUmbrellaGuy “could not be reached.”

This is an excerpt from the Daily Caller.