During the heart-ripping hour when the death of Charlie Kirk was being announced and the news spread, TMZ was covering the moment. While the announcement was happening, laughter and cheers erupted in the background.
The clip of this TMZ moment spread like wildfire, with people disgusted and outraged that anyone would have such a reaction to this news, and painted the TMZ crew as evil people.
FOAD TMZ pic.twitter.com/79ECjo0r3C
— ATX Irish Gal 🙏🏼🇺🇸❤️ (@Notmyfault99) September 11, 2025
Later, TMZ would announce that the cheers were not related to Charlie Kirk, but no one believed them. The same TMZ host released a video on Wednesday evening directly addressing the laughter with another TMZ employee.
According to the TMZ executive producers, Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere, the people off camera were watching a police chase, and that's what they were reacting to.
"I know these people, and they were not laughing; they were not reacting that way about Charlie Kirk's assassination," said Levin. "And they would not work here if they did."
Latibeaudiere acknowledged that the moment was "horrible timing" and that "we are sorry."
"We apologize," Levin continued. "We apologize that you had to hear that."
Addressing tone deaf laughter pic.twitter.com/7lOvG7z3H4
— TMZ (@TMZ) September 11, 2025
While the apology is nice, there's no way to confirm if it's genuine. Indeed, there was a car chase happening at that moment in South Los Angeles, but it's unclear what exactly they were cheering about over it.
What does seem to line up in the timeline is President Donald Trump announcing Kirk's death, the cheers erupting, and then Levin being handed the news. It's also odd that TMZ has cameras all over the office, and yet not one of them seemed to capture this moment that the crew in the background was reacting to a car chase.
So, with that said, it's unclear if there is actually any truth to the apology. TMZ's brass might be sorry it happened, but we don't know if the employees are sorry they did it.
The truth is that there was a lot of celebration from leftists around that time. Social media feeds are currently filthy with examples, and each one is more disgusting than the last. It's my sincere hope that TMZ wasn't one of them, not because I have some connection or favor toward them, but because the less joy there is around the murder of someone who was an example of a good man who deserved peace and love the better.
Moreover, this is something that Charlie's friends and family have to endure alongside his passing, which is hard enough to deal with, much less comprehend at this moment.
TMZ's laughter was highly inappropriate in that moment, no matter how you slice it. With all eyes on Kirk, the mood would have been either somber or elated for those who truly hated him, and it's hard to believe that an entire crew was hyper-focused on a car chase out in LA when the tension around Charlie's status was so high.
There are a lot of unknowns, and anger and hurt can put a shadow on any given event, but my sincere hope is that the people at TMZ are being honest. Charlie didn't deserve what happened to him, and what happened to him doesn't deserve any celebration either.
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