Vanity Fair Drops Contributor After Courtroom Smile During Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial

“I SHOULD NOT BE HELD CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, AUTHORITIES SAY LINDSAY CLANCY KILLED HER THREE YOUNG CHILDREN IN JANUARY 2023… AND NOW A WRITER COVERING THE PROCEEDINGS HAS LOST HER MAGAZINE CREDENTIALS AFTER SMILING AT A LIVESTREAM CAMERA IN COURT.

A reporter covering Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial sparked backlash when she appeared to wink and smile at the camera inside the courtroom.

The trial proceedings were being livestreamed by CourtTV on Monday, August 24.

During the broadcast, the camera panned across a row of journalists seated in the courtroom gallery.

Journalist Brittany Romano noticed the camera focused on her before she grinned.

Her beaming expression and seemingly playful demeanor stood out from the other reporters in the room.

Those seated around Romano remained stone-faced during the broadcast.

The clip of her reaction quickly went viral online.

Several people subsequently took to social media to criticize what appeared to be Romano’s upbeat mood during the heavy trial.

“Ok, this is a lunatic move. Her name is Brittany Romano and she works for Vanity Fair. Deplorable behavior. 3 children are dead and this fool is acting like that??? Disgusting,” one person wrote via X.

“Imagine treating a trial for three murdered children like a red carpet photo op, and then being arrogant enough to lash out when people call out your complete lack of basic empathy. Unbelievable,” another user added.

“My god, the narcissism is literally dripping off of her face. She cannot be more happy to have a camera on her,” a third person chimed in on the platform.

Following the court hearing on August 24, a social media user caught up with Romano outside the building and asked why she had been smiling.

Romano explained that she “grew up” with the 36-year-old defendant.

She also stated that she was smiling for her father after he previously told her she looked sad when he saw her on television.

That explanation was captured in a video recording of the encounter uploaded to X.

But Romano’s conduct soon resulted in professional consequences.

Romano lost her credentials to cover the trial for Vanity Fair.

On Tuesday, August 25, the outlet announced that it planned to stop working with Romano altogether.

“We were interested in the prospect of a personal essay by Brittany Romano about her experience growing up with Lindsay Clancy,” Vanity Fair said in a statement, according to the New York Post.

“Yesterday, after clear conflicts with our editorial standards and processes, we informed Romano that we were not moving forward with her essay and informed the court that she is no longer credentialed by Vanity Fair,” the magazine stated.

Then Romano broke her silence to address the mounting criticism in a series of Instagram stories posted on August 24.

She shared multiple screenshots displaying hostile messages sent to her by social media users.

Romano then uploaded an image indicating that her posts had gathered over 100 comments, 24 likes, and 100 new followers.

“All for smiling at a camera?! Love it! Tysm for boosting my analytics Xoxoxoxo,” she wrote.

In a subsequent Instagram story, Romano stated that “these trolls have been absolutely vile” and said people have told her to kill herself.

Clancy is currently on trial for the killings of her three children in January 2023.

The victims were five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan.

Clancy has not denied killing her three children.

And her defense argued that she should not be held criminally responsible for the killings due to her mental health struggles at the time.

Help remains available for anyone who is pregnant or has recently given birth and is experiencing a crisis.

The National Maternal Mental Health Hotline offers free, confidential support 24/7 in English and Spanish by call or text at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262).

The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.