Controversial journalist Taylor Lorenz said she hoped former President Joe Biden "rots in hell and rests in piss" following news of his advanced prostate cancer diagnosis.
Lorenz, a far-left pundit who had previously contributed to the Washington Post and the New York Times, lashed out in a post shared on her X account Monday (May 19), one day after Biden's diagnoses was publicly announced.
"Hopefully he rots in hell and rests in piss," she wrote, along with a screenshot of a satirical 2019 ViCE article with the headline, 'Joe Biden: It Would Be an Insult to My Dead Son for Everyone to Have Healthcare,' which was published as a faux critique of Biden's health care stance during the 2020 Democratic primary.
Lorenz's post was corrected by Community Notes on X, which stated, “Biden never said the phrase used in the headline. The post is based on a satirical misrepresentation.”
Lorenz doubled down on her attacks on Biden in a statement to the New York Post on Tuesday (May 20).
“Joe Biden is a war criminal who personally sanctioned the genocide of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians, including countless cancer patients,” Lorenz said.
“Biden is responsible for at least nearly 1 million deaths from COVID and kicked millions, including cancer patients, off healthcare amidst a raging pandemic. He forced people back to work with no labor protections," she added. “My sympathies will always lie with the innocent people Biden has killed and disabled, not the genocidal warmonger sanctioning their deaths."
Biden, 82, shared a statement addressing his "very aggressive" prostate cancer diagnosis on his X account Monday morning.
"Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support," Biden wrote along with a photo of himself and his wife and their cat.
CNN initially reported Biden's diagnosis on Sunday.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” the statement said. “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”
Biden recently underwent "routine physical exam" led to the discovery of "a small nodule," a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday (May 13).
“In a routine physical exam a small nodule was found in the prostate which necessitated further evaluation,” the spokesperson said.
The former president previously had a lesion reported to be cancerous removed from his chest in February 2023, as well as multiple non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery prior to his inauguration in 2021.
"As expected, the biopsy confirmed that the small lesion was basal cell carcinoma," said White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor while describing the surgical procedure at the time via ABC News. "All cancerous tissue was successfully removed. … No further treatment is required."
"Basal cell carcinoma lesions do not tend to 'spread' or metastasize, as some more serious skin cancers such as melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma are known to do," O'Connor continued. "They do, however, have the potential to increase in size, resulting in a more significant issue as well as increased challenges for surgical removal."
O'Connor added that the "site of the biopsy has healed nicely and the President will continue dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing comprehensive healthcare" at the time.