Just before 10:35 on Monday evening, emergency responders were called to the Manchester Arena in Great Britain to reports of a large explosion at an Ariana Grande concert. As of 9:15 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, 19 have been confirmed dead and 50 more have been confirmed injured by the Greater Manchester Police. Although authorities are treating the situation as a terror attack, this has yet to be confirmed.
Shamefully, before the blood of dozens of pre-teen girls has even dried on the tear-stained floor of the Manchester Arena, some journalists took to Twitter to mock the victims and crack tasteless jokes about the terrible tragedy.
Leave it to Leavitt
David Leavitt, an anti-Trump "Resistance" writer from Boston who is a contributor for Yahoo! and CBS, tweeted about the Manchester Arena tragedy, and quipped, "The last time I listened to Ariana Grande I almost died too."
Leavitt later deleted the tasteless tweet, but not before several thousand Twitter users captured screenshots of it. In fact, outrage at the freelance journalist was so great that David Leavitt himself actually became a trending topic on Twitter, with 47.5k people talking about his inexplicably callous reaction.
Dozens of users directed their anger at the Boston CBS affiliate, calling for the writer to be fired. However, rather than apologizing for the initial tasteless remark, Leavitt followed it up with another tweet, asking, "Too soon?"
This is NOT ok, @CBS. What's wrong with you? Joking about innocent children dying?! Disgusting. @David_Leavitt, you are scum. #Manchester pic.twitter.com/YE0qMN6Tcv
— Democrats for Trump (@YoungDems4Trump) May 23, 2017
Even self-identified Democrats wasted no time piling on.
Democrats for Trump asked "What's wrong with you?" while others brought the matter to the attention of one of Leavitt's employers.
@CBSNews @cbsboston Your employee thinks this is hilarious @David_Leavitt is an embarrassment to the country, you own that if you keep him. #ManchesterBombing pic.twitter.com/cEkjT1WmUc
— Rosie Unmasked (@almostjingo) May 23, 2017
Dear @CBS @axs @Yahoo @Examiner @Twitch: What is your company's stance on dead kid humour? Only ask because @david_leavitt is all for it! pic.twitter.com/SOV7GAkYc7
— Maple Syrup Shots (@MapleSyrupPod) May 23, 2017
Yet, as hundreds of outraged social media users pummeled the writer with angry messages, Leavitt only became more emboldened, joking about the firestorm he created.
Singer escapes unharmed
Meanwhile, Manchester is still trying to grapple with the reality of what happened. According to NBC News, the blast occurred outside the arena, near the Manchester Victoria transit station. The station was evacuated, and the prevailing theory is that the mayhem was the result of a suicide bomber (this, however, remains unconfirmed).
A spokesperson for Ariana Grande said that the pop singer was not injured, and NBC News has reported that President Trump, who is presently on his first foreign trip since his inauguration, has been notified of the tragedy in Manchester.
