Social media users, mostly young women, are showing favoritism to Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the Dec. 4 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan, but authorities believe this was premeditated. It is described as an attack.
“Luigi Mangione used a carefully planned and targeted attack by Brian Thompson to incite a national debate,” James Dennehy, deputy director of the FBI's New York field office, said in a statement Thursday after Mangione's extradition to New York. He is said to have carried out the execution of Mr. “This alleged conspiracy demonstrates a cavalier attitude toward humanity, using murder as an appropriate means of resolving personal grievances.”
Mangione is accused of shooting and killing Thompson, a married father of two from Minnesota, and faces charges in both New York and Pennsylvania of first-degree murder, promoting terrorism, stalking, and numerous other charges. He has been charged with state and federal charges.
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare's annual shareholder meeting was being held, an act prosecutors say was repeated days later in Pennsylvania. They believe he intended to send a message to the health insurance industry based on the manifesto discovered when he was arrested. .
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Luigi Mangione is escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City on Thursday. (Rashid Umar Abbasi, Fox News Digital)
Since the attack and Mangione's arrest, social media has seen a surge of positive posts about the suspected killer.
A TikTok video shows an artist sketching Mangione's face on top of Alexander Hamilton's face on a $10 bill, as a newscaster speaks about the words “denial,” “defense,” and “expulsion.” These are the same words written on the shell casings at the crime scene. — has been viewed over 1 million times and has over 234,000 likes.
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The CEO of UnitedHealthcare's parent company mourned the death of Brian Thompson and asked the public to understand that industry executives were doing the best they could with a flawed system. (AP Photo/United Health Group)
“The question is, “Give me freedom or give me death.'' [original] “Deny, defend, step down,” one commenter wrote.
A video montage showing Mangione being extradited from Pennsylvania to New York City on Thursday, surrounded by NYPD officers as they removed him from the plane, has gone viral and has been viewed more than 2 million times.
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Luigi Mangione is escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City on Thursday. (Rashid Umar Abbasi, Fox News Digital)
”[T]Hey, you’re acting like El Chapo or something,” one user commented on the video, while another compared the clip to “Gotham City.”
Other video montages of Mangione's perp walk, set to songs by Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and Pink Floyd, have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
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Luigi Mangione is escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City on Thursday. (Rashid Umar Abbasi, Fox News Digital)
One user captioned a video of Mangione being escorted to New York: “He looks even sexier as he comes out of prison… freshly shaved, faded, fresh curls.”
Another user commented: “It actually looks better.”
“I really hope that when he comes out of this situation, his friends don't lose too much of the kind and caring Luigi they used to have,” one user wrote on Mangione's video. “I hope he gets the support he needs to get through how traumatic this has been.”
From left: Adam Giesman of Piqua, Ohio; Ashlyn Adami of South Bend, Indiana; Ethan Merrill of South Bend, Indiana, and Luigi Mangione protested outside the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, after Thursday's hearing. (Gary M. Baranek)
Several experts in psychology and social media spoke to FOX News Digital about the obsession with Mangione on TikTok and other social media platforms.
Rachel Goldberg, LMFT, PMH-C, of Rachel Goldberg Therapy in Los Angeles, pointed to “three main reasons” behind the obsession with Mangione.
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Luigi Mangione screams as he arrives for his extradition hearing at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on December 10 as he is being restrained by police. (David Dee Delgado, Fox News Digital)
“First of all, he comes across as a relatively 'normal' guy, someone you might have had some casual interactions with in your life, or maybe even some fun interactions with,” Gold said. Berg said. “Secondly, there are still many mysteries surrounding this situation: what prompted him to act, and whether it has to do with mental illness or dissatisfaction with past problems. , or a combination of other factors, we don't fully understand.Finally, this incident gave people a platform to express their dissatisfaction with the health insurance system.
“A lot of people keep their frustrations quiet, but this situation has created a sense of camaraderie that allows them to air it openly,” she continued.
Dr. Holly Schiff, a licensed clinical psychologist, told Fox News Digital:[s]People who become famous for scandals or controversial reasons are attractive. ”
In this courtroom sketch, Luigi Mangione sits between defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo and her husband Mark Agnifilo during a federal court hearing in New York City on Thursday. (Jane Rosenberg)
“Social media thrives on engagement, and sensational stories like this generate likes, comments, and shares. You get the excitement and the thrill,” Schiff explained.
Social media can also “create a sense of groupthink, where people begin to adopt the same opinions and behaviors as others in order to fit in with their surroundings.”
“When you have a perspective, in this case the admiration for Luigi Mangione, it spreads, it gains momentum, and it starts to become a bigger movement,” Schiff said. “Social media spreads this like wildfire and it happens much faster. When this happens, there is no critical thinking or awareness of its impact. It happens when we make irrational or dysfunctional decisions because of the situation. And this can lead to so-called wrong decisions.”
Luigi Mangione, believed to be the man responsible for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was seen on surveillance footage flirting with a hostel employee before the Dec. 4 mass shooting in New York. was. (New York City Police Department)
If Mangione is “perceived as less attractive,” she continued, “the public reaction to his crimes may be even harsher.”
“Society tends to judge less attractive individuals more negatively, especially when it comes to criminal investigations,” Schiff said. “There's a cognitive bias called the halo effect, where impressions of people are based on a single characteristic. In Luigi's case, people were inferring a person's overall personality based solely on his looks and physical appearance. Thinking of him conventionally is appealing and makes it easy for some people to gloss over his actions or, in the extreme version we see here, to glorify his actions. ”
Additionally, the public is fascinated not only by true crime as a genre in literature and film, but also by the “bad boy” and “outlaw” types, “which desensitizes us to murder cases and criminal investigations.” “True crime.” ”
Luigi Mangione is pictured in a Facebook photo. (Luigi Mangione/Facebook)
Nicky Camilleri, a London-based music industry expert and a member of Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, says the public's glorification of murder suspects is “deeper than considerable privilege.” He pointed out that this is a phenomenon in which conventionally attractive people are given preferential treatment.
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Camilleri said, “Counterculture and anti-establishment sentiment has made a more pronounced resurgence in recent years, and Luigi represents that trend.'' Mangione said, “In the eyes of many people, Luigi represents a resurgence of anti-establishment sentiment. He is a young man with a lot of talent.'' The man acted on the resentment many people feel toward large medical companies and similar large facilities. ”
A courtroom sketch depicts Luigi Mangione's court appearance on December 9 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. (Dave Klug)
“This is a modern-day anti-establishment protest, so to speak, and Luigi is the face of it on social media,” she explained. A similar “boom” has been seen in boy bands, artists and influencers, “all stemming from the psychological connections that people have with stars,” Camilleri said.
Michael Petegorski, chief strategy officer at psychedelic drug company Mindbloom, said: “Mental health issues often manifest in unexpected ways, including the kind of collective behavior we see around Luigi Mangione.'' I've seen it with my own eyes,” he said.
Petegorsky pointed to dissatisfaction with the health insurance industry as part of the public frenzy over the suspected murderer.
Luigi Mangione is taken away in an NYPD vehicle after an extradition hearing Thursday at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. (David Dee Delgado, Fox News Digital)
“The obsession with Mangione highlights the extent of the breakdown in America's mental health system, where millions of people suffer without adequate care,” Petegorsky said. “When basic mental health needs are not met, people turn to sensationalism and irrational groupthink as an outlet for frustration, curiosity, and even unconscious attempts to process deeper social issues. You may be attracted to it.”
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Although authorities have not commented on an official motive, public speculation is that the suspect had a strong dissatisfaction with the health insurance industry.
Mangione, 26, is originally from Maryland and has recently lived in California and Hawaii. Mr. Mangione graduated as valedictorian from the Gilman School, a private high school for boys in Baltimore, in 2016. Mr. Mangione earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.
