Just over a week ago no one knew who Luigi Mangione was. After he was revealed as the alleged assassin of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, on 4 December, he quickly became one of the most polarizing figures in American pop culture.
To some, he’s an anticapitalist arch villain. To others, he is a Marxist folk hero exacting revenge against the unchecked avarice of American medical insurance companies. To yet more, he’s a damaged young man struggling with a variety of intense health issues, whose family and friends desperately tried to reach out to him after he disappeared in the weeks and months before the killing.
The Fox News host Laura Ingraham described those who have rallied behind Mangione as “nutbag people”. But in memes shared across TikTok, X and Instagram, he’s an Italian “daddy” and “brat” with washboard abs and a Cheshire cat grin.
