People Are Sharing Alibis for Luigi Mangione on Their Social Media Feeds

Ever since he was first apprehended as the suspect in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Luigi Mangione has become something of a folk hero among people of all political stripes who hate health insurance companies. As a result, the fascination with Mangione has often seemed like something closer to hero worship than you might see with other suspected murderers.

Now, some people are making memes in which they offer alibis for Mangione with obviously photoshopped images. These alibi memes are circulating on the internet.

Most of the memes are obviously jokes, and they simply shout Mangione for being anywhere besides Manhattan between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. on the day when Thompson was killed.

"It was cool hanging out with my friend Luigi Mangione on Dec. 4, 2024, between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. in San Antonio, Texas. We went thrift shopping and bar hopping and talked about how he had never been to New York. Had a great time," one person wrote on Twitter.

"So great to see our friend Luigi Mangione on 12-4-2024 from 6 a.m.-4 p.m. EST at our storefront in Duluth, Ga.! We had a nice long chat about how much he LOVES being at least 15+ hours from NYC and how he HAS never and WILL never eat at a McDonald's! Thanks for stopping by Luigi!" another account added.

Another aspect of the joke is that these posts don't even seem to be aware that Mangione has been accused of anything. They're just thanking him for stopping by.

The people posting these memes are editing him into photos that make it clear he's not really there, and none of them seem to exist because they actually want to exonerate Mangione. Instead, these posts prove that there are plenty of people who empathize with him and that many people don't think it's offensive or uncouth to make jokes about Thompson's murder.

Although he has been apprehended and now awaits trial, these memes are evidence that there are plenty of people who don't mind that Mangione is likely guilty of murder. In fact, they don't mind it to such an extensive extent that they are willing to make jokes about the fact that he is innocent.

There has long been a trend in American culture of fascination with the people who commit various crimes. We make TV shows and documentaries and podcasts about them, but not necessarily because we want to be like them. It's more related to a fascination with the mind of a killer.

Mangione, by contrast, seems to have become famous in part because there's a part of people that generally admires what he did, if he is in fact guilty. That strain might be troubling to some, but for plenty of folks on the internet, it's just an excuse to crank out another meme.