Too soon? You’d be hard pressed to find a story that has garnered more attention in 2024 than the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Just over three weeks ago, the CEO was gunned down in the streets of New York City while he was there for a conference. The online response has been concerning to say the least – especially after the suspected killer was identified as Luigi Mangione.
Saturday Night Live got hit with some backlash
after they made a couple of jokes that made light of the murder, and women have grossly found Mangione attractive, with some “fans” even attending his recent arraignment hearings. Despite the brutal death that the United Healthcare CEO (and father and husband) suffered, the masses haven’t provided much sympathy. That’s been attributed to the nature of the healthcare industry, with many companies accepting customer premiums, but then denying claims of those in need of medical attention. And to be fair, there are MASSIVE issues with the United States healthcare system, but murdering CEOs in the street (and Mangione reportedly didn’t even have United as his insurance carrier), is absolutely not the answer. Celebrating that is disgusting. But it’s that exact issue that has seemingly given the internet a pass to crack jokes and make light of such a serious situation. And it’s also why comedian Tim Dillon felt as though it would be okay to portray Brian Thompson – or rather the ghost of Brian Thompson – in the latest Netflix roast. Torching 2024: A Roast of the Year debuted earlier today, and it’s already getting a lot of attention due to Dillon’s “United Hellcare CEO” bit that he did during his allotted time. The comedian teased the character on Christmas Day, sending out a post with a screenshot that was captioned: