New York Times tech and internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz has fully walked back her erroneous claim that business tech entrepeneur Marc Andreessen used incendiary language over the weekend.
Lorenz alleged on Twitter that the Silicon Valley investor used what she called the "r-slur" during a conversation on the audio-driven social media app Clubhouse about Redditors' recent splash on Wall Street that promped the surge of GameStop's stock price.
"@pmarca just used openly using the r-slur on Clubhouse tonight and not one othe person in the room called him on it or saying anything," Lorenz tweeted on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Lorenz issued a formal mea culpa.
"On Saturday, Ben Horowitz, a co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, used a term during a public event on Clubhouse. I mistakenly attributed the use of this term to Marc Andreessen, his partner and a co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. I regret the error and deleted the tweet," Lorenz wrote.
This marks a drastic shift in tone from Lorenz after she was previously called out for the error, with her initial tweets suggesting it only merrited a clarification and deflecting her culpability by pivoting to a broader lesson that could be learned.
"I hope everyone who used this word can think more carefully about why people in the audience were upset," Lorenz previously tweeted.
However, none of Lorenz's tweets provided the context, which was explained by Clubhouse chatroom moderator and Andreessen's colleague Naithan Jones. He responded to the Times reporter's tweet by saying that amid a conversation about the recent GameStop stock surge, it was noted that the Redditors behind the chaos on Wall Street referred to themselves as the "R-word revolution". Andreessen himself "never used that word, ever," according to Jones.
Critics continued to pile on Lorenz Tuesday, with some calling her out for not offering an apology.
"This isn't even an apology!" Washington Examiner commentator Tiana Lowe reacted.
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"Words I think you might be looking for: 'I'm deeply sorry for irresponsibly and publicly accusing someone of using a slur. What I did was wrong, and it caused harm to others. Next time, I won't be so quick to use my gigantic platform to target people without full info again,'" The Lafayette Co. president Ellen Carmichael tweeted.
"Crybully fabulism used to get journalists fired. But in the case of left-wing New York Times 'journalism' in 2021, it'll probably result in a promotion and pay raise," Federalist co-founder Sean Davis wrote.
"The New York Times got a phone call from some lawyers," conservative commentator Stephen Miller quipped.
The Times has not responded to Fox News' requests for comment about the matter.