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A top editor at Penguin Random House allegedly mocked the murder of Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner in a bizarre Instagram post which blamed her for the housing crisis and ending with “rest in piss.”
Thomas Gebremedhin, vice president and executive editor at Doubleday Books, shared the vile Instagram story highlighting an X post about Monday’s mass shooting at 345 Park Ave., where LePatner, 46, was gunned down while trying to shield herself behind a marble pillar.
“Her sole job was making sure housing is expensive and that we all rent for the rest of our lives,” read the original post portraying LePatner — a Jewish mom of two — as the face of unaffordable housing.
“She made $9,000 a minute … Rest in piss.”
Social media users were quick to point out that LePatner did not earn “$9,000 a minute,” and condemned the post, which was first made in response to Blackstone’s official memorial tweet and flagged by Free Press reporter Maya Sulkin.
“It’s not just people in the dark corners of the internet justifying LePatner’s murder,” Sulkin wrote in a Friday X post. “It’s people like Thomas Gebremedhin.”
The tone-deaf repost stunned many in the publishing world, where Gebremedhin moves in elite literary circles. His Instagram, @tgebremedhin, is private but screenshots of the story began circling online this week, triggering widespread condemnation.
“Book publishing industry is full of scum. Probably more woke than the worst universities,” one user commented under Sulkin’s post.
Another wrote: “The Left be like: anyone with a lot of money deserves to be murdered, unless they’re Hamas terrorist billionaires.”
“[He] should be fired … absolutely deplorable,” a third chimed in.
LePatner, who was global head of Core+ Real Estate and chief executive officer for Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, was mourned by her firm and family as “brilliant,” “warm” and “deeply respected.” She served on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, mentored young women and was honored by UJA-Federation for her Jewish philanthropy.
She was shot dead Monday by gunman Shane Tamura, who killed four before turning the gun on himself. LePatner had crouched behind a pillar in the lobby of 345 Park as bullets flew.
Her teenage daughter called her “my rock” during a tearful funeral Thursday at Central Synagogue in Midtown, where more than 500 mourners gathered just blocks from the site of her death.
Neither Penguin Random House nor Gebremedhin immediately returned messages seeking comment.
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