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When big news breaks, the internet is always there to make a funny joke about it. But after the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot and killed in New York last week social media reaction it surprised many people media mediawho said they were offended by the macabre humor and often hilariously responded to the health insurance executive being killed.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Monday and charged with murder. criminal complaint in New York unpublished on Tuesday. And the release of Mangione’s name, combined with the launch of McDonald’s, turned what was once history into an unstoppable stream of internet buzz.
Laura Ingraham of Fox News may have best illustrated the criticism of the media, and the hypocrisy that comes with supporting your brand of murder.
“Instagram posts from nutbag people, sent to me during a commercial break… crazy,” Ingraham said. “As beautiful as it is, it’s this… and people are celebrating this. This is a disease. To be honest, it’s very disappointing. But I think we shouldn’t be surprised.”
Ingraham then immediately proceeded to kill her accomplice, Daniel Penny, who killed a homeless man on the New York subway and was acquitted on Monday.
“And then, Daniel Penny, a lot of people think he’s a hero. And tonight he’s not guilty. My next one,” Ingraham said.
Ingraham: Instagram posts from nut bag people ..people celebrating. This is a disease, honestly, it’s very disappointing, but I think we shouldn’t be surprised .. after all, other big stories from New York, Daniel Penny, many people think he’s a hero. pic.twitter.com/DRi5d1QNTv
– Acyn (@Acyn) December 10, 2024
What kind of “disease” was Ingraham talking about on the Internet? If you missed it, you are definitely living under a rock. But we’ve compiled some of the memes and jokes we’ve seen below to give you an idea of what people are talking about.
There were a lot of Luigi jokes from Super Mario Bros. To be clear, Nintendo did not send the tweet.
Nintendo was cooking why did they remove it 😭 pic.twitter.com/rnwfGegJDz
– videos that go hard (@vidsthatgohard) December 10, 2024
– Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) December 9, 2024
Then there was the joke that Mangione was taken from McDonald’s.
— John “BrewersRaptor” Egan (@BrewersRaptor) December 10, 2024
Memes have also claimed other honor killers in various ways, including Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who brought a gun to a civil rights protest in Wisconsin and killed two people. Rittenhouse pleaded self-defense and was acquitted of murder.
Many people also joked about giving Mangione an alibi on the day of the murder.
– Gritty and the Way (@Gritty20202) December 10, 2024
There were also many comics that filled in new and existing memes, animations, and art.
– Comrade Sisko 🖖🏾✊🏿 (@Pinko69420) December 10, 2024
THEY ARE MAKING USEFUL CONTENTS ON TIKTOK pic.twitter.com/vZlIt8TUDn
— tooth 🔆🇵🇸🇮🇪 (@toothbrushlord) December 7, 2024
The number of killer ballads on sites like TikTok has been staggering, with artists like Thomas Francis and More than that singing about killing in a long tradition of people.
Some videos, such as a song by singer Joe DeVito, have been removed by TikTok for “violating community guidelines,” although DeVito’s video is still available on platforms like Instagram.
DeVito confirmed to Gizmodo that his video was removed by the platform, not him, and said he was inspired to write the song because he sees the health care system as a way to make money.
“I’m with Brian Thompson in the news I’ve been thinking about the health care crisis in the US and I’m realizing more and more that it’s a way to legally rob people..,” DeVito told Gizmodo via email, “death benefits the low blood and middle-class Americans to benefit the rich.” very much etc.
There were also plenty of jokes about Mangione’s good looks, which came up again and again even before people knew his name and were just going by the way he looked from security cameras.
There was also art inspired by Mangione and his manifesto.
And, of course, there were conspiracy theorists on Twitter who couldn’t help but turn things around by trying to find hidden messages in everything that came out about the murder.
There have also been memecoins that have sprouted up, which is to be expected in cryptocurrency circles. Before Mangione’s name was known, we saw Refusal to Protect Remove-head money, inspired by the words he allegedly wrote on bullet casings found at the scene of his murder. But since Mangione’s name became known, new coins have appeared Luigi heads.
Where is this all going now that Mangione is in prison? No one knows. It is possible that memes will die when the next big story emerges which will be the subject of jokes and celebrations on the Internet. But it’s also possible that Mangione becomes the kind of public hero with the longest shelf life for people who feel betrayed by the US medical system. And that includes many Americans who seem to outnumber the rest of the country.
The memes collected here are not limited to current events. There is so much being shared about this murder that it is impossible to keep up. And when more information comes out about what may have motivated someone to kill a healthcare executive, it’s likely that the internet will be talking about it and the horribly broken system that is health care in the United States.
