A Condé Nast writer who owns a stunning $2.2 million brownstone home in Brooklyn proudly admitted to shoplifting because she believes it is not ‘morally wrong’ to steal from corporations. 

The New Yorker contributor Jia Tolentino, 37, claimed stealing food from Whole Foods Market is not ‘very significant’ because the supermarket, which is owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, can afford the losses and mistreats its workers.

She admitted to pilfering small-value items, including lemons, to The New York Times during a sit-down with millionaire communist Hasan Piker and culture editor Nadja Spiegelman in a conversation about the rise of ‘micro-looting’ from shops.

Tolentino, who has worked at Vogue publisher Condé Nast since 2016, said there were a number of items and products she would not feel guilty about stealing, also including sharing her Netflix password and pirating music from others’ Spotify accounts. 

She added that she would ‘cheer on’ anyone stealing priceless art from the Louvre, and said her philosophy on theft was based on who the victim was. 

‘I think that stealing from a big box store is not a very significant moral wrong,’ she said. ‘However, nor is it significant in any way as protest or direct action.’ 

‘But I did steal from Whole Foods on several occasions,’ said Tolentino, who has written two successful books. 

Putting a woke and self-serving spin on her lawbreaking, Tolentino told of pilfering from Whole Foods while involved with her neighborhood ‘mutual aid’ group that saw her go shopping for a friend called ‘Miss Nancy.’ 

Jia Tolentino, a writer at the New Yorker, proudly admitted to shoplifting because she believes it is not ‘morally wrong’ to steal from corporations

Tolentino lives in an opulent $2.2 million brownstone in Brooklyn, but argued this week that said she doesn’t believe it is a ‘moral wrong’ to steal from rich corporations – and added that she would ‘cheer on’ anyone stealing priceless art from the Louvre

Tolentino said that when she would pick up food for her friend, she forgot items like lemons and decided to steal them rather than going through the hassle of standing in line to check out again. 

‘I forgot four lemons. And on several occasions, I was like, I’m just going to go back, grab those four lemons and get the hell out,’ she said. 

‘But I didn’t feel bad about it at all.’ 

Tolentino sought to further justify her theft by claiming that Whole Foods loses as much stock to its staff as to shoppers and by implying that workers’ alleged mistreatment justified her antics.

‘These companies expect [stealing] from their employees that they are disenfranchising constantly,’ Tolentino said.  

Tolentino, a staff writer at the New Yorker, lives in a sprawling five-bed, four-bath brownstone home in Brooklyn’s desirable Clinton Hill neighborhood, public records show. 

The property sits a few blocks away from a Food Emporium supermarket and Family Dollar store – although Tolentino did not say whether she has stolen from those, too.  

Tolentino made the admission to the New York Times in a sit-down with culture editor Nadja Spiegelman, in a conversation about ‘why petty theft might be the new political protest’

The author, who is married to architect Andrew Daley, 40, bought the gorgeous brownstone with a $1.5 million mortgage in 2023. 

The privileged pair also own a second home in the ritzy upstate New York town of Saugerties, a cabin bought with a $200,000 mortgage in 2018 that is now worth almost $500,000. 

Asked if her lack of guilt was based on how she felt about Whole Foods as a corporation, Tolentino responded: ‘Yeah. It already felt like a bit of a compromise.’ 

‘At the time, I was like, I had not been to Whole Foods. I had a bit more consumer discipline about where I was spending my money then, and I already felt like I was in the hole, even by shopping there,’ she said. 

‘And it certainly felt, in a utilitarian sense, I was like, this is not a big deal.’ 

Piker – a self-described pro-Communism activist who has sparked backlash for often wearing expensive clothing and taking luxury trips – then chimed in to say he is ‘pro-stealing from big corporations.’ 

The conversation was widely criticized, even by the New York Times’s own famously liberal readers, who flooded the outlet’s comment section to share their disgust. 

Tolentino made the shocking argument in favor of shoplifting in a conversation with avowed communist Hasan Piker 

‘You are all part of the problem,’ one commenter wrote. 

‘Can we all agree to crack down on the wealthy stealing instead of approving of everyone else stealing too? It’s just wrong.’ 

 Another described the opinion piece from the Times as ‘appalling,’ and argued that ‘retail theft hurts everyone,’ including their employees. 

‘If you can’t afford Whole Foods, go somewhere less expensive,’ they wrote.

‘Everyone should have food access but no one is entitled to shop at stores out of their price range and then steal items… Go without the lemons – sheesh!’

A commenter from Brooklyn added: ‘Gosh. I disagree with so much of the sentiment here. 

‘There will always be injustice, unfairness, unethicalness, and there has always been. To use that as an excuse to surrender your own moral principles and justify partaking in what you know to be wrong, is madness and bad for everyone. 

‘These folks have lost the plot.’ 

The Daily Mail has contacted the New Yorker, The New York Times, and Tolentino for comment.