On Dec. 4, 2024, Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was murdered in Midtown Manhattan. Less than a week later, Luigi Mangione emerged as the only suspect. He faces several charges from New York State and Pennsylvania as well as multiple federal charges. Mangione has pleaded “not guilty” to these crimes.
I don’t have the authority to judge Mangione’s guilt or innocence, nor can I determine whether the murder was abhorrent or justifiable. However, I’m intrigued by the conversations this incident has sparked.
On Jan. 2, 2025, just over a month after the murder, an episode of TMZ Investigates was released, titled “Luigi Mangione: Inside the Mind of a Killer.” TMZ is a tabloid that reports “the LATEST celebrity and entertainment news.” Typically, TMZ posts comically low-stakes content, for example, “Viral DUI Hooters Waitress Compares Wild Night Out to Hawk Tuah Phenomenon,” so a documentary about a high-profile murder feels out of place. Tabloids do not have the impression of being particularly reliable news sources, whereas true crime theoretically aims to be nonfiction and impartial, so the idea of combining tabloid and true crime feels dissonant.
Since the release of this episode, the murder case still has not been resolved and the trial is barely underway. TMZ did not present this story, though, with any ambiguity. The title of the episode alone demonstrates that a clear stance is being expressed: Mangione is guilty.
The episode relays the details that have been circulating since Mangione was first accused, but are delivered with absolute certainty. The reporter tells us about the moment “Mangione opens fire, shooting [Thompson] three times, killing him.”
As the episode progresses, the focus shifts away from the crime itself and onto a discussion of the public reaction. A clip of a crowd chanting “Eat the rich!” underlays journalist Michael Moynihan telling us “These are people that don’t love guns, … and they oppose the death penalty. But right now they seem to be okay with guns and okay with the death penalty, provided the death penalty doesn’t go through legal means.”
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The episode is emblematic of the polarization between the political right and left, which has emerged from the larger conversation about Thompson’s murder. One TMZ headline reads “Bill Maher Calls Luigi Mangione Love Typical Gen Z, ‘Eat the Rich’ Solves Everything.” The article describes comedian Bill Maher’s comments about the situation, detailing his criticism of Generation Z. Maher says: “And what about gun control? When Sarah Palin posted a map with crosshairs on the districts of House Democrats in 2010, liberals went nuts. But now, vigilantism is okay when it’s someone you want dead?”
On the other side of the argument, The Daily Show released a video titled “Vigilante Hypocrisy.” making fun of Fox News’ anti-Mangione stance. This is a compilation of Fox reporters condemning support for Mangione alongside a video of a celebration Fox held for Kyle Rittenhouse in 2021. Sean Hannity tells us: “Cheering for the murder of an unarmed man is beyond sick” while a clip of confetti and a crowd cheering for Rittenhouse plays. Both sides are pointing at the other and crying “hypocrite.”
Rather than a meaningful ideological debate about violence or the increasing wealth gap, the conversation has become the left condemning the right for suddenly having a strong aversion to gun violence while the right condemns the left for suddenly supporting gun violence. Once again, we are all pointing fingers at one another.
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Toward the end of the episode, the reporter, Harvey Levin, tells us that “Mangione will sit in jail until his trial begins. That is going to take months. Possibly a year.” This seems to be precisely the reason the docuseries episode was released now, rather than in a year or two when all the details have emerged and Mangione is confirmed guilty or innocent. In our accelerating news cycle, this is far too long of a wait. Even now, less than two months after Thompson was killed, conversations about this case have fallen out of everyday discourse and have been replaced by the latest topic which is now the elusive TikTok ban. There seems to be an increasing inability to hold interest in several current events at once.
The content of this episode was an unsettling blend of gossip and true crime. It was essentially a reaction video to the public reaction to a recent murder. I’m uncertain of what value the episode added beyond putting all the clips of Mangione together in one place and further polarizing the discussion through the personal opinions of TMZ reporters. The episode contains minimal meaningful discourse about the ethics of our healthcare system and the role of violence in a social movement. Instead, TMZ created a piece of a larger issue that pits people against one another and polarizes left from right.
There is a difference between a true crime docuseries and news coverage of a crime. I don’t believe tabloid and true crime should ever intersect, as they have with this episode. It is dangerous for media outlets to declare the outcome of a case before the courts. We have a judicial process for a reason and TMZ should not position itself as a higher authority, especially not for the sake of entertainment.
Rachel Cannata is a senior in the Hotel School. She can be reached at [email protected]