Luigi Mangione

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This article documents a currently unfolding situation within the fannish realm. Content may change quickly, and the page structure itself may undergo major revision. New details are very welcome.

Name: Luigi Mangione
Also Known As: The Adjuster (by fandom who believe him to be the shooter)
Pronouns: he/him
Occupation: accused United Healthcare CEO shooter; imprisoned
Medium:
Works:
Official Website(s): Twitter
Fan Website(s):
On Fanlore: Related pages
This article is about the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer. For the Mario character, see Luigi.

Luigi Mangione is (as of December 2024) a suspect in the shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Luigi is considered by many to be a hero, and since the shooting, many fans have created fanworks to show their support for the assassination suspect.

Discussions about fandom culture

While a fandom-specific subculture (including fan fiction, shipping, stan culture, etc) has emerged for Luigi Mangione, support for Luigi is more widely a mainstream phenomenon, some describing him as a "folk hero" (generally under the assumption that he is responsible for the assassination) outside the bounds of dedicated fandom subculture spaces. Other than being accused of targeting the UHC CEO, Luigi is also considered a figure bringing attention to the criminal legal system and prison conditions after law enforcement imprisoned him (e.g. #FreeLuigi memes).

However, much major media attention uniformly denounces support for Mangione as an amoral fandom subculture fad based in violent fantasies, against a mainstream view that directly murdering a designated civilian individual is supposedly a violation too far, regardless of motive.[1]

Robin Hood. Folk Hero. Hottie.

Glorification of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson this month, has been chilling. Sympathy for Mangione's reported aims has come from not only anonymous online hordes, but also supposedly serious public figures, including at least two federal lawmakers.

This is an escalation of an existing political trend: public bloodlust for destruction and retribution. Americans are rejecting leaders who propose solutions for their problems in favor of antiheroes who want to burn everything down — figuratively or literally.[2]

Criticism of assuming Luigi to be the perpetrator

While some people are already convinced that Luigi is the person who assassinated the UnitedHealthcare CEO, others are not convinced that Luigi is the one who did it, and criticize publicizing, celebrating, and fandomizing Luigi as the perpetrator without proof. Among both those who believe Luigi is the perpetrator and those who don't, many agree that promoting the widespread assumption of a person's involvement violates their presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial.

On Archive of Our Own (AO3) as of this writing, the Luigi Mangione tag is synned to the UHC Shooter tag, despite Luigi not being convicted of the shooting, and the UHC Shooter existing as a Blank Slate original character in fan fiction before the police publicized Luigi as a person of interest.

Luigi supporters: serious political support, or merely lusty fangirls and other ridiculous fans?

There was a fandom for the assassin even before police released a photograph of their suspect's face or named Luigi as a person of interest. After Luigi's photographs and social media were widely spread, many have expressed admiration for his looks--and some have claimed or implied that his popular support is primarily based on the admiration for his looks.[3]

The right-centrist[4] business-focused newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article "How Luigi Mangione Captivated the Internet", mostly describing a "fandom" fixated on sexual infatuation and profiting off a trend, supported by interviews with a few women content creators and male self-shippers. The WSJ is the largest newspaper in the United States, along with The New York Times, which published Friedman, V. (2024, Dec 12). "A pretty face overshadows A grisly crime". New York Times. Big-name entertainment shows such as Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Kimmel[5] have also lampooned the support for Luigi as coming from such fans.

Some have objected to this characterization of the supporters of healthcare reform and/or Mangione, particularly how women and gay men are targeted, ridiculed, and dismissed as merely infatuated fans.[6]

News reporters reducing healthcare reform protesters to “Luigi fans” and “supporters who are mostly women”[7]

It makes me so angry that the world continues to disrespect women and reduce their efforts to protest the healthcare system to just being fan girls!![8]

(image)
Pictures of the signs the “fan girls” were holding
image
image[9]

That fan girl is handsome.[10]

I found another one that I have to share because it just makes my blood boil:
"...a rabid fanbase — consisting mostly of young women — lined up outside the courthouse in freezing temperatures in order to catch a glimpse of the alleged killer-turned-internet sensation. While a slew of apparent admirers scrambled to get inside, many more staged a protest outside the courthouse, condemning healthcare CEOs."[11]
It's just so low and aims to dehumanize a legitimate discussion about the problems with this case and especially the issues surrounding healthcare in this country.[12]

It’s a typical “divide and conquer” action, actually a really obvious one aka men versus women - it’s like “hey look men, it’s just some fan girls protesting [which is a lie obviously], you can focus on other stuff now.” So disgusting on many levels, really.[13]

legit so annoyed about the way the corporate media wants to paint those women waiting outside the court as crazy and as only being there because Luigi is hot. I looked up pictures of them outside the court and they all held signs and were there to send a message: "health over wealth", "denial of medical care = violence", "murder for profit = terrorism", "the United States healthcare stole my livelihood", "insurance lobbyists line politicians' pockets", "healthcare reform NOW". Yeah, they're there because he's hot for sure. Also, there were a lot of men as well but hey, that's not helping the narrative right?[14]

Women’s healthcare is astoundingly poor and our concerns are less likely to be taken seriously, but let’s just automatically blame the alleged disparity of support on us being hysterical fan girls whose cognitive functions are so easily clouded by sexual desire[15]

saw a reel of a woman basically saying that the media might be trying to portray the whole situation as something that women fangirl over so that the general public loses interest because ofc things that women are interested in are immediately seen as uncool and stupid[16]

Fandom overlap with and distinctions from True Crime Community (TCC) and serial killer fan followings

Some claim the support for Luigi is similar to the fan following for the actually convicted serial killer Ted Bundy, with both individuals being part of the "criminal" class and having fandoms.[17]

Fanworks

  • memes related to the fictional character Luigi (Mario series)
  • "A contest for Luigi Mangione, suspect in the killing of Brian Thompson, was held at the University of Florida's Plaza of the Americas on December 13, attended by hundreds of people. Prizes included a Nerf gun for first place, a date with the organizers for second place and a $5 McDonald’s gift card for third. Cookies and candy were handed out to attendees. Some contestants made use of their time to speak about the killing and its wider context."[18][19]
  • Another look-alike contest "took place on December 19 at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil. A post on Twitter which featured the event's flyer, featuring a head shot of Mangione as well as a photo of him shirtless, received over 1 million views."[20][19]

As of late December 2024, there are close to 200 works tagged with Luigi's character tag on Archive of Our Own.

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Links

References

  1. ^ https://www.businessinsider.com/luigi-mangione-content-meta-facebook-instagram-youtube-tiktok-moderation-2025-1
  2. ^ Rampell, C. (2024). Fan club for suspected shooter is a symptom of burn-it-all-down populism. Washington, D.C., United States Washington, D.C.: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post.
  3. ^ Friedman, V. (2024, Dec 12). "A pretty face overshadows A grisly crime". New York Times
  4. ^ "Wall Street Journal - Bias and Credibility". Media Bias/Fact Check. December 2024.
  5. ^ Bendix, T. (2024). Stephen colbert is surprised by luigi Mangione’s ‘Minifesto’: Best of late night. New York: New York Times Company.
  6. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/FreeLuigi/comments/1hkrcgz/news_reporters_reducing_healthcare_reform/
  7. ^ https://www.snopes.com/articles/468806/luigi-mangione-women/
  8. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/FreeLuigi/comments/1hkrcgz/news_reporters_reducing_healthcare_reform/
  9. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/FreeLuigi/comments/1hkrcgz/news_reporters_reducing_healthcare_reform/m3gif3k/
  10. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/FreeLuigi/comments/1hkrcgz/news_reporters_reducing_healthcare_reform/m3i2x1j/
  11. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20241231005023/https://www.amny.com/news/midtown-assassin-suspect-luigi-mangione-manhattan-plea/
  12. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/FreeLuigi/comments/1hkrcgz/news_reporters_reducing_healthcare_reform/m3gi5yv/
  13. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/FreeLuigi/comments/1hkrcgz/news_reporters_reducing_healthcare_reform/m3h66ox/
  14. ^ https://www.tumblr.com/venusssssssssss/770677126832734208
  15. ^ https://www.tumblr.com/moral-terror/770743072675037184
  16. ^ https://www.tumblr.com/shychili/770951200152616961
  17. ^ Przeszlowski, K. (2024, Dec 18). Luigi mangione isn’t the first alleged criminal to capture many people’s imaginations – and hearts. The Conversation U.S.
  18. ^ Castro, Sabrina (December 13, 2024). "Hundreds gather at UF for Luigi Mangione lookalike contest amid murder case". The Independent Florida Alligator. Archived from the original on December 13, 2024.
  19. ^ a b https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_look-alike_contests#December
  20. ^ Taheri, Mandy (December 21, 2024). "Luigi Mangione's fandom goes global: Look-alike contest in Brazil". Newsweek. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
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