The world was shocked on Sunday, January 26th to learn about the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi in a helicopter accident in Los Angeles.
The world was shocked on Sunday, January 26th to learn about the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi in a helicopter accident in Los Angeles.
It was later reported that TMZ had posted the story online before law enforcement had time to notify the family of the victims, and that they may have found out about the tragedy through social media.
Pompeo, who plays the titular Meredith Grey on the popular ABC drama, initially shared a link to a petition calling for Fox to cancel TMZ "after what they did to Kobe's family."
Pompeo then posited that TMZ posting this story, and their past coverage of stories including infamously releasing a photograph of a bruised Rihanna that was later identified as police evidence, amounted to abuse.
"Why is this guy still in business at all?" She asked, while her followers seemed to agree with her in the replies.
Responding to a fan who replied that someone involved in the aftermath of the accident must have provided the information to TMZ, Pompeo suggested it wasn't "hard to figure out."
While it may have been a first responder who leaked the information to TMZ, Pompeo argued that "we don't go after first responders, we celebrate them."
Pompeo pointed out that TMZ has a history of having access to information and photos that they should not have and sharing them irresponsibly.
Even if that is true and there is no exchange of money, Pompeo calls into question why it's acceptable for Levin to have a "friend" supplying him with this information in the first place.
She also referred to the idea that Levin simply has well-connected friends as a "simpleton excuse."
Some people defended TMZ, however, with one fan writing, "TMZ IS A NEWS OUTLET. They have every right to get the story first. It doesn’t matter who got the story first. They have connections."
Levin has responded in an interview saying that "Kobe's people" had told TMZ "very clearly" that Vanessa had already been notified before they broke the story, but concluded that it was "a fair point" when the families of the other victims were brought up.