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TMZ has issued an apology after staff members broke into laughter at the announcement of Charlie Kirk’s death during an unflattering livestream.
The entertainment news outlet found itself in hot water while reporting on the gory death of the MAGA firebrand on Wednesday.
While Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere were talking about the assassination of the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, laughter could be heard in the background.
Levin remained stoic as he broke the harrowing news to the live audience, but viewers were sickened by what they heard.
“During today’s TMZ livestream, employees were heard cheering, clapping and celebrating just 30 seconds before announcing Charlie Kirk’s death,” an X user commented.
‘They laughed and applauded the cold-blooded murder of a husband and father on a public broadcast, like it was some kind of sick joke, before handing it off to Harvey Levin.’
Conservative internet personality Laura Loomer called the incident ‘DISGUSTING.’
‘Shameful and disgusting behavior by TMZ. Shame on them. Charlie is a husband and a father. He was murdered in cold blood,’ she wrote on X.
Ring-winged influencer Charlie Kirk (pictured) eerily spoke about gun violence as he was gorily assassinated at a Utah Valley University Rally
While Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere were discussing the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder’s assassination, laughter erupted in the background
TMZ has broken its silence on the inappropriately-timed cheering, claiming there was no ill intent.
‘We were livestreaming all day during this tragedy,’ Levin began during an apology video alongside Latibeaudiere.
‘When 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.’
He explained that those individuals were laughing and clapping at the car chase, not Kirk being shot in the neck.
Levin went as far as to say those people ‘would not work here’ if they found Kirk’s death funny in anyway.
‘We acknowledge that it was horrible timing,’ Latibeaudiere chimed in. ‘And for that, we are sorry.
‘We assure you, [the laughter] was not about that.’
In a written piece about what they say was a massive faux pas, the outlet admitted that ‘watching a car chase at that moment was tone deaf.’
After the gun shot rang, panic ensued among the masses, causing them to flee the scene (pictured)
The entertainment company also took to X to clarify what happened in the newsroom as Kirk was killed.
But even after the apology statement was released, some critics were simply not buying it.
‘POV: You’re being lied to,’ one person wrote on X in reaction to the video of the apologetic co-hosts.
‘Yea the whole world is watching this assassination but your staff is focused on some random car chase that no one can find..we’re not stupid Harvey,’ another person posted.
The Daily Mail has reached out to TMZ for further comment.
The conservative activist, 31, was assassinated while taking questions from the crowd at the Orem college on Wednesday afternoon.
A single bullet struck him in the neck – causing blood to spew as he tipped back in his chair – as he was responding to a question about gun violence in America.
President Donald Trump confirmed Kirk had died as few hours later.
A member of the crowd (pictured) stepped up to the microphone to debate Kirk, who was sitting under a tent, on the matter of mass shootings
Kirk helped found Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit that has focuses on promoting conservativism on school campuses
‘The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,’ the president wrote on Truth Social.
There is currently no one in custody for the shooting, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Wednesday night.
George Zinn, 71, was arrested immediately after Kirk was shot, but investigators ruled he was not the assassin. He was booked on obstruction of justice.
The FBI then detained another unnamed suspect, but they were released after interrogation, Patel said.
‘The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency,’ he wrote on X.
Officials said the fatal shot was fired from the top of the Losee Center, about 200 feet away from where Kirk was speaking.
Chilling video from the moments leading up to Kirk’s death shows what appears to be someone lying on the roof – and fleeing after shots were fired.
Kirk leaves behind his wife Erika Frantzve , with whom he had a three-year-old daughter and a son, 16 months (pictured: Kirk and his family)
President Trump (left) led tributes to Kirk (right) after he was fatally shot in the neck Wednesday
Witnesses claim there were no security measures in place. University police said only six officers were at the campus event that hosted about 3,000 people.
Authorities have deemed the tragic event a ‘political assassination’ and believe the suspect acted alone.
While TMZ has come under scrutiny, as viewers believed employees were laughing at Kirk’s death, left-wing social media users have shared content blatantly celebrating his death.
‘I’m not saying Charlie Kirk deserved to be shot, but I think enablers to pedophiles should be shot, too,’ wrote one left-leaning social media user.
Multiple TikTokers reacted casually to the shooting, with one mock crying while a dramatic song played, with the caption: ‘Charlie Kirk got s**t? Awwww.’
But even leading Democratic voices have come forward to denounce politically-driven violence.
‘The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form,’ California Governor Gavin Newsom declared.
