Meme History: Luigi Mangione memes
The morning of December 4th 2024, Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare, was shot and killed outside a hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Five days later, on the 9th, the suspected shooter was arrested and arraigned at a McDonald's on East Plank Rd in Altoona Pennsylvania—after a worker called 911 on him. His name, as we all know, is Luigi Mangione.
Ten days after that, Luigi pleaded “not guilty” to New York and Pennsylvania State, as well as federal criminal charges including murder and terrorism. But in the meantime, he’d become the internet’s latest object of obsession: As a folk hero of sorts, as a villain, as a weird thirst trap, and of course, as a meme.
The state of health care in the U.S.
First, a little primer on the state of the American healthcare system generally, and United Health’s reputation specifically:
There has long been sentiment that the United States’ healthcare system is broken. Many Americans would like to see a European or Scandinavian-style single-payer system, and/or are increasingly frustrated with a government that empowers elected officials who seem not to represent the best interests of their constituents, and whose wealth makes them appear out of touch and ignorant of the daily realities of the working class.
In 2024, UnitedHealth Group was the world’s 8th largest company in the world by revenue at a staggering $371.6 billion. It also denies more insurance claims than any other insurer.
Medicare Advantage is a supplement to Medicare where private insurers will provide patients with additional care not covered by base-medicare. Medicare pays those insurers to cover healthy individuals, as well as additional taxpayer dollars per diagnosis—regardless of whether or not they get treated.
A key component of this plan is that it allows for both doctors and representatives of private insurers to make diagnoses individually. In the summer of 2024, a report by the Wall Street Journal found that UnitedHealth had a higher rate of diagnoses, and therefore received higher payments per patient, than nearly any other major healthcare provider.
The report also found that in many cases those diagnoses were reported by representatives of UnitedHealth and were contradicted by patients’ own doctors, resulting in no treatment actually being performed, and the money seemingly staying in the pockets of United Health.
Public opinion about Luigi Mangione
Public opinion about Luigi Mangione does seem to diverge based on age and political affiliation, but not as much as you’d think. For instance, 4Chan users typically lean pretty far right, but one was quoted saying: “Hating morally bankrupt elitist scumbags shouldn’t have any political affiliation.”
According to a YouGov poll released the day before Luigi’s first court date, while a plurality of adults in the US had an unfavorable view of him, pluralities of adults aged 18-29, as well as those self-described as “very liberal” have favorable views.
So later on if you find yourself asking why the volume of jokes supporting a suspected murderer are so high, there’s some context to come back to.
Now, onto the memes.
“Narc-Donalds” and a “Sexy Folk Hero”
They’ve since been scrubbed from Google Maps, but on December 9th, the day Luigi was arrested, the McDonald's where he was arrested was flooded with snarky 1-star reviews, calling him an American Hero, and referring to the restaurant as “Narc-Donalds.” By the following day, people had gotten access to his X and Instagram accounts, whose follower count, before it was removed, jumped from 823 to over 10,000.
There, supporters found images of him available to be screenshotted and photoshopped, as well as lusted after. Described variously as a “sexy folk hero” or “hot assassin,” images of the 26-year-old also made it into pictures and posts jokingly creating alibis for him—all claiming that the poster had been hanging out with Luigi at the time of Brian Thompson’s murder.
When photos of him being taken to court were released on the 19th, one TikToker noted that he appeared to have freshly threaded eyebrows and a taper fade. The theory is that his supporters might extend to his fellow inmates. If true, it was a result of fellow prisoners sending a message to the correctional officers that they were protecting him.
And speaking of eyebrows, many people online who legitimately think he didn't do it—often based their conclusions on comparisons of those eyebrows picture to picture—if the brow don’t fit you must acquit.
“One hell of a movement slogan”
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, obviously spooked, backtracked a decision they were about to make, which would have stopped anesthesia coverage after a procedure ran over a certain arbitrary amount of time. And the irony of gun violence preventing harm was not lost on anyone.
When police looked at the bullet casings from the attack, they found the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose”—tactics used by the healthcare industry to avoid paying insurance claims—etched into them. Described as “hella catchy” and “one hell of a movement slogan” by users online, they began to be used in graffiti against Elon Musk in January and February, as the Trump administration took office, and Musk’s team began doing all the things they’ve been doing.
In the time between the death of Brian Thompson and Luigi's second court date, internet-goers have created Luigi Mangione Sims 4 characters, compared him to a superhero, created fundraisers for his legal fees, gotten tattoos of him on their bodies, and at least on Rednote, gave him a cute and cuddly nickname: “Lulu.”
Most memes are stupid jokes, but these ones feel different because their intent is different.
When living in an unresponsive system, the vast majority of people will not themselves leap to violence as a solution. Many, understandably, will condemn it—arguing that cruelty doesn’t justify more cruelty. And sure, there are people on this bandwagon just for the upvotes, but for the rest, it's not entertainment.
It's a protest.
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