Vanity Fair Drops Freelancer After She Smiles, Poses, and Winks at Camera in Lindsay Clancy Triple-Murder Trial

Vanity Fair has cut ties with a freelance journalist after a video of her smiling, posing, and winking at a courtroom camera during the Lindsay Clancy triple-murder trial went viral, sparking outrage online and a swift editorial rebuke from the magazine.

Brittany Romano, a freelancer who was covering the trial in Plymouth, Massachusetts, using Vanity Fair media credentials, was seen in the front row of the gallery Monday, dressed in a green dress, mugging for the Court TV camera while other reporters sat stone-faced. The video, which spread rapidly across social media, shows Romano grinning, tilting her head, and winking—behavior critics called wildly inappropriate given the gravity of the proceedings.

Clancy, a mother of three, is on trial for the deaths of her children—Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and baby Callan, 8 months old—who were found strangled with exercise bands in the family’s basement on January 24, 2023, after she allegedly sent her husband out for takeout. The defense has argued postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors contend the killings were premeditated. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday.

In a statement, Vanity Fair said it had been considering publishing a personal essay by Romano about growing up with Clancy in Wallingford, Connecticut, but that the magazine had decided to abandon the project after the video surfaced.

“We were interested in the prospect of a personal essay by Brittany Romano about her experience growing up with Lindsay Clancy,” the magazine said. “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 decision came after Romano’s behavior in the courtroom drew widespread condemnation online. When asked by a streamer outside court why she was smiling on a live feed of a murder trial, Romano offered a series of shifting explanations, saying she “grew up with Lindsay,” that Clancy had looked at her and she looked back, and that her father had told her she “looked bad” on Court TV, so she was giggling. She later added that a stylist for Hilary Duff had advised her to clip her hair back, look forward, and smile, and in another telling claimed she had mascara in her eye.

The explanations multiplied, but the video did not change. Critics noted that other reporters in the courtroom maintained a sober demeanor, and social media users accused Romano of treating the trial as a personal publicity opportunity.

After the clip went viral, Romano posted screenshots of angry messages she had received, writing, “All for smiling at a camera?! Love it! Tysm for boosting my analytics Xoxoxoxo.” In a longer statement, she declared, “A smile is not a crime. Telling a woman to slit her wrists is,” adding that she smiles through anxiety and discomfort and has “nothing to apologize for.”

Romano also insisted that she is a freelancer who never had a contract with Vanity Fair, and that the magazine cannot “pull credentials” from someone who is not staff. Nevertheless, the magazine notified the court that she was no longer credentialed, and she was not present in the courtroom on Tuesday.

The incident has raised broader questions about editorial judgment at glossy magazines that pursue first-person narratives tied to sensational crime cases. Vanity Fair’s original interest in Romano’s essay was based on her claim that she grew up on the same street as Clancy—a childhood-friend angle that some critics say panders to true-crime voyeurism rather than serving the public interest.

As the trial enters its final phase, the fallout from Romano’s courtroom behavior serves as a cautionary tale about the intersection of social media, crime coverage, and personal branding. While Romano has framed the backlash as an overreaction to a momentary smile, the magazine’s swift response suggests that even a venue known for celebrity access and glossy features has limits when it comes to decorum in a murder trial.

Neither Romano nor Vanity Fair has commented further on the matter beyond the statements already made.

Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com — https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/08/leftist-vanity-fair-drops-journalist-who-grinned-posed/