During a livestream on TMZ, there were audible cheers when founder Harvey Levin announced the death of Charlie Kirk. Kirk, a conservative activist, was assassinated in Orem, Utah, during an event on the campus of Utah Valley University. He was struck in the throat by an assassin’s bullet. The shooter in this attack is still at large. Levin had to do damage control, saying that the staffers were really raving about a car chase, not the death of Mr. Kirk.
Levin apologized for the tone deaf moment:
As Harvey and Charles were reporting the developments in our newsroom, there were employees in another part of the building watching a car chase.
The people watching that car chase began laughing and clapping in reaction to what they were seeing, but we want to make it clear ... they were not cheering in response to the assassination.
Nevertheless ... watching a car chase at that moment was tone deaf, and the sounds of laughter at that crucial moment were totally out of line.
We apologize to anyone who heard that as we were in the middle of covering such a tragic story.
Do you believe them?
Listen to this video of @TMZ announcing the death of Charlie Kirk. You can audibly hear the staff cheering as the receive the news that Kirk has died. It is seconds before it is relayed to the on air host. Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/8b8BJVyD2r
— Tim Sharp 🍊 🍊 🇺🇸 (@realtimsharp) September 10, 2025
Addressing tone deaf laughter pic.twitter.com/7lOvG7z3H4
— TMZ (@TMZ) September 11, 2025
Bull. Shit. pic.twitter.com/JZV0FyA6hZ
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 11, 2025
TMZ staffers were vocally excited that Kirk had been assassinated https://t.co/LIzG1UGRce
— Sunny (@sunnyright) September 11, 2025
James Woods is highly skeptical, but can you blame him? It's very weak sauce.