The dark fandom behind the suspect in the murder of CEO Luigi Mangione

They came in hoodies, wearing masks, shuffling and giggling nervously as they waited for the winner to be announced.

Just days after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered on a New York City sidewalk, these young people had lined up in Washington Square Park to compete in a lookalike contest for the man wanted for his murder.

It was sparsely attended and those who attended saw it as a joke, said Talia Jane, a journalist who was there.

But it underscored an obsession with a murder suspect that has taken over social media since the Dec. 4 killing, fueled by simmering anger directed at America’s private health insurers.

“There was already a lot of Tinder there, a lot of discontent, a lot of frustration, and (this) kind of threw a match at him,” Jane said.

And it has only grown since the suspect was named Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old, Ivy League-educated member of a prominent Baltimore family.

In TikTok videos, memes and group chats, a young man accused of shooting a father of two in the back on a New York City sidewalk has been fawned over and praised as a kind of folk hero.

This fetishization was remarkably widespread and was not limited to the radical corners of the Internet or any political affiliation, which worried many observers.

“We don’t kill people in cold blood to resolve political differences or express a point of view,” said Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s.

“In a civil society, we are all less safe when ideologues engage in vigilante justice.”

Almost immediately after Thompson was shot to death, the Internet began praising his alleged killer. On TikTok, people posted videos of a “killer CEO” walking tour of New York City. Playlists dedicated to the suspect began to appear on Spotify.

Once Mr. Mangione was arrested, these fans came to his defense.

The beginning of his legal battles led anonymous donors to contribute thousands of dollars to his defense through various online fundraising activities.

Etsy was flooded with pro-Mangione clothing, while Amazon removed similar products from its site.

The McDonald’s worker who supposedly delivered it has become the target of online hate, while the fast food franchise itself has been spammed with bad reviews.

The Altoona, Pennsylvania, police department that arrested him even received death threats.

Much of this online backlash has focused on his appearance, with the internet dubbing him the “hot killer.”

In fact, Mangione’s appearance, which he showed off in shirtless posts on social media, is now clearly part of the appeal, said cultural critic Blakely Thornton.

Americans are effectively “programmed” to trust and empathize with men who look like Mangione, he said.

“That’s why they are the protagonists of our movies, books and stories.”

Public adoration of handsome men. Accused of crimes is nothing new: from Ted Bundy to Jeremy Meeks, violent men have developed a cult following.

But Professor Tanya Horeck, an expert in digital culture and true crime at Anglia Ruskin University, says social media has given such sentiments mass visibility and helped spread them.

The Internet has caused “a blurring of the line between celebrity and criminality,” he told the BBC, adding that when people see a good-looking person appear on their feeds, their first thought is lust, not moral criticism.

“The atmosphere around Luigi Mangione is one of ‘thirst,'” he said.

Beyond his appearance, a big part of Mangione’s online appeal is clearly his apparent anger at the private healthcare industry and corporate elites in general. American media reported that Mangione was arrested carrying a handwritten document that said “these parasites deserved it.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), a nonprofit extremism research group based in New Jersey, said that after the shooting the hashtag #EatTheRich went viral.

Since Mangione’s arrest, variations of “#FreeLuigi” have been posted on X more than 50,000 times, likely garnering tens of millions of impressions. And by some measures, the NCRI said, engagement with posts about Thompson’s assassination on platforms like X, Reddit and others surpassed that of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July.

An analysis of a sample of comments by market research firm OneCliq found that the vast majority (four-fifths) contained criticism of the healthcare system.

Mangione’s X account has gained more than 400,000 followers since the shooting.

The shooting also seemed to inspire others to take action against health care insurers: Wanted posters for other CEOs appeared throughout New York City. and a woman in Florida was arrested after telling an insurance agent over the phone “Delay, deny, declare. You are next,” alluding to words inscribed on bullet casings found at the crime scene.

Alex Goldenberg, a senior adviser at NCRI, called the online backlash a “turning point” and “a catalyst for the normalization of political violence that was once confined to fringe extremists.”

He compared the wave of comments to online activity following racist mass killings, designed to defend the killers and reinforce their beliefs, only more widespread and occurring on major social media platforms.

“The dynamics we are seeing are eerily similar to activity on platforms like 4chan, 8chan, Discord, and other dark corners of the Internet, where mass shootings are often greeted with joy,” he said.

Tim Weninger, a computer science professor at Notre Dame and an expert in social media and artificial intelligence, said evidence suggests the surge was authentic, not driven by robots or government influence operations.

“People are angry at the healthcare industry and are using social media to express their frustrations,” he said. “They are expressing those frustrations by supporting this suspect.”

Recent research by the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy institute, found that 45% of insured working-age adults were charged for something they thought should have been free or covered by insurance, and 17% of respondents said their insurer denied them coverage for recommended care. by your doctor.

There are signs that the shooting has prompted some introspection on the part of healthcare companies.

“I think we’re all taking a step back and trying to understand what’s going on with patients and their experiences,” Pfizer chief sustainability officer Caroline Roan said at a conference in New York on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Some of the people who have been protesting health insurance companies for years, before online criticism of universal health coverage took off, understand some of the darker sentiments, even if they don’t endorse them.

“It is a horrific act of violence and I absolutely condemn it regardless of the motive,” Jenn Coffey, who has been fighting to have UHC cover her medical bills, said of Thompson’s murder. “But I’m not surprised by the reaction.”

Coffey, 53, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and later became ill with complex regional pain syndrome, a potentially debilitating neurological condition. When a doctor suggested he try ketamine therapy, his UHC insurance would not cover the procedure, he said. He has since become involved in a protest campaign organized by the activist group Popular Action.

Mrs. Coffey’s illness forced her to stop working as an emergency medical technician. She said she started a crowdfunding campaign and had to sell most of her belongings to pay for the treatment herself.

“I can have some normality. I can sit and paint, or I can enjoy a meal with my family” thanks to the treatment, he said. “I can have a life worth living.”

UnitedHealth Group told the BBC they could not comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.

At the same time, much of the online discussion has effectively ignored the victim, Brian Thompson, who was 50 years old.

“It’s incredibly bleak that (Thompson’s death) hasn’t been covered as much because ultimately a person died, a person was murdered,” Blakely Thornton said.

“The collective anger at (the healthcare industry) really overwhelms what remains a tragedy.”

In his latest LinkedIn post, Thompson talked about efforts to make healthcare more affordable and came under fire in the comments. CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, obtained a message that UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty sent to staff this week, remembering Thompson and calling his slain colleague “one of the good ones.”

“He was certainly one of the smartest guys. I think he was one of the best. I’m going to miss him. And I’m incredibly proud to call him my friend,” he wrote.

In the email, the company shared messages from customers, including one who wrote about recovering from cancer, saying his treatment was paid for by insurance company benefits.

“I am grateful to UHC and everyone who works within a broken system for helping as many people as they can,” they wrote, according to the company.

Another message read: “It’s so sad that this world is so hateful. I’ve always had great experiences with UHC.”

Ms Coffey, a UHC policyholder and patient, said: “My heart goes out to the family and I can’t imagine what they will have to deal with with it (the murder). “It’s terrible for me that this is the catalyst for this debate. “.

“I would have preferred to sit down and talk to him.”

With additional reporting by Grace Dean