Social media users, mostly young women, are fawning over Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of the crime UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed in Manhattan on December 4 in what authorities described as an arson attack.
“Luigi Mangione allegedly performed an operation Intentional and carefully targeted implementation “This alleged plot demonstrates a cavalier attitude toward humanity — considering the murder of Brian Thompson to incite national debates,” James Dennehy, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York field office, said Thursday, in a statement after Mangione's extradition to New York. . “Appropriate recourse to satisfy personal grievances.”
Mangione is charged with first-degree murder in furtherance of a terrorist act, stalking and a slew of other state and federal charges in both New York and Pennsylvania, for allegedly shooting Thompson, a married father of two from Minnesota.
Mangione allegedly shot Thompson outside the Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare's annual shareholder conference was being held, in an act that prosecutors believe was intended to send a message to the health care insurance industry based on a statement found about the suspect when he was arrested after Days in Pennsylvania. .
Luigi Mangione was escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City on Thursday. (Rashid Omar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Since the attack and Mangione's arrest, social media has been abuzz with positive posts About the murder suspect.
A TikTok video of an artist drawing Mangione's face onto Alexander Hamilton's face on a $10 bill over the sound of newscasters mouthing the words “deny,” “defend,” and “impeach” — the same words found on shell casings at the crime scenes. – It has more than a million views and 234,000 likes.
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The CEO of parent company UnitedHealthcare mourned the killing of Brian Thompson and implored people to see that industry executives were doing the best they could with a flawed system. (AP Photo/UnitedHealth Group)
“‘Give me liberty or give me death’ was the (original) ‘reject and defend’ statement,” one commenter wrote.
A video montage of clips from Mangione's delivery on Thursday from Pennsylvania to New York, The video of him surrounded by New York Police officers escorting him off the plane went viral and received more than two million views.
Luigi Mangione was escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City on Thursday. (Rashid Omar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
“(T)hey acting like he's El Chapo or something,” one user commented on the video, while another compared the clip to “Gotham City.”
Another video montage of Mangione's career, with hundreds of thousands of views, plays alongside songs by Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and Pink Floyd.
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Luigi Mangione was escorted from an NYPD helicopter in New York City on Thursday. (Rashid Omar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
“He got transferred from prison and he looks even hotter…new haircut, fade, new curls omg,” one user commented on a video of Maggione accompanying him to New York.
“It actually came out better,” another user commented.
“I really hope when he gets out of this his friends don't lose as much of the sweet Luigi they had before this,” one user wrote in response to a video of Maggione. “I hope he gets the support he needs to get over how traumatic this has been.”
From left: Adam Geisman of Piqua, Ohio; Ashlyn Adami of South Bend, Indiana; and Ethan Merrill of South Bend, Indiana, protest outside the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, after Luigi Mangione's hearing on Thursday. (Gary M. Baranek)
Several psychology and social media experts explained the obsession with Maggione on TikTok and other social media platforms to Fox News Digital.
Rachel Goldberg, LMFT, PMH-C of Rachel Goldberg Therapy in Los Angeles, pointed to “three main reasons” behind Mangione mania.
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Luigi Mangione screams as officers handcuff him as he arrives for his extradition hearing at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on December 10. (David De Delgado for Fox News Digital)
“First, he seems to be a relatively ‘normal’ guy — someone you may have interacted with in your life without thinking twice, or even had pleasant interactions with,” Goldberg said. “Secondly, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding the situation. We don’t fully understand what prompted his action – whether it was related to mental illness, frustration over his back problems, or that combined with other factors. Finally, this case has given people a platform to speak out.” Expressing their dissatisfaction with the health insurance system.
She continued: “Many people carry this frustration in silence, but this situation created a feeling of camaraderie, which allowed them to vent it openly.”
“Someone who becomes famous for a scandalous or controversial reason is a seductive person,” Dr. Holly Schiff, a licensed clinical psychologist, told Fox News Digital.
In this courtroom sketch, Luigi Mangione sits between his defense attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and her husband, Mark Agnifilo, during a hearing in federal court in New York City on Thursday. (Jane Rosenberg)
“Social media thrives on interaction and a provocative story like this generates likes, comments and shares. There is a sense of excitement or thrill from following and being 'part' of a dramatic or perhaps controversial and taboo topic,” Schiff explained.
Social media can also “create a sense of groupthink where people begin to adopt the same opinions or behaviors as others just to fit in.”
“If there is a certain point of view, in this case, the admiration for Luigi Mangione spreads widely, begins to gain strength and becomes a larger movement,” Schiff said. “Social media makes this spread like wildfire and happen much more quickly. There is no critical thinking or awareness of the implications of this happening. Groupthink occurs when a group of people makes an irrational or dysfunctional decision out of a desire for harmony or conformity, and this can That leads to so-called bad decisions.”
The suspected gunman in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, believed to be Luigi Mangione, was seen flirting with a hotel employee in surveillance footage before the Dec. 4 shooting in New York. (nypd)
She added that if Mangione had been viewed as less attractive, the public's reaction to his crime might have been more harsh.
“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 our impression of a person is based on a single trait. In Luigi's case, people make assumptions about his general personality based solely on his physical appearance and appearance. If he's traditionally considered attractive, it makes it easier for some people to overlook their actions, or “In the extreme version we see here, romanticizing his actions.”
There is also a general fascination among the public with the “bad boy” or “outlaw” genre, as well as true crime as a literary and cinematic genre, “which has resulted in us desensitizing, and in some cases even normalizing, murder cases and criminal investigations.” “Real crime.”
Luigi Mangione is pictured in a Facebook photo. (Luigi Mangione/Facebook)
Nikki Camilleri, a London-based music industry expert and Forbes 30 Under 30 listlist, notes that the public's glorification of a murder suspect is “deeper than pretty privilege,” the phenomenon of traditionally attractive people receiving preferential treatment.
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“Counterculture and anti-establishment sentiment have resurfaced more clearly in the recent past, and what Luigi represents is that trend,” Camilleri said, adding that Mangione is “a young man who, in the eyes of many, went against” the man and acted on the resentment many felt towards Major healthcare companies and similar large institutions.
A courtroom sketch depicting Luigi Mangione's appearance in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on December 9. (Dave Klug)
“It's a contemporary anti-establishment protest, if you will, that's happening on social media and Luigi is the face of it,” she explained. Similar “insanities” have been seen in boy bands, artists and influencers, “all of which stem from the psychological connections people have with stars,” Camilleri said.
Michael Pitygorski, chief strategy officer at psychedelic medicine company Mindbloom, said he has “seen firsthand how mental health struggles often manifest in unexpected ways, including group behaviors like those seen around Luigi Mangione.”
Pitygorski cited frustrations with the health care insurance industry as part of the public's fascination with the murder suspect.
Luigi Mangione was led into an NYPD cruiser after his extradition hearing in Blair County District Court in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. (David De Delgado for Fox News Digital)
“The obsession with Maggione highlights how broken the mental health care system is in the United States, with millions suffering without access to adequate care,” Petigorski said. “When basic mental health needs are not met, people may gravitate toward sensationalized stories or irrational groupthink as an outlet for their frustration, curiosity, or even an unconscious attempt to address deeper societal issues.”
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While officials have not commented on an official motive, the public has speculated that the suspect had strong grievances with the health care insurance industry.
Mangione, 26, is originally from Maryland and has recently lived in California and Hawaii. He graduated from the Gilman School, a private boys' high school in Baltimore, in 2016. Mangione earned bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.
