CNN Slammed For Airing Segment Claiming That Healthcare CEO Killer, Luigi Mangione, Seems Like A “Morally Good Man, Which Is Hard To Find”

Quinn Eaton·
CULTURE
·
Luigi Mangione Taylor Lorenz
CNN

Did CNN forget to think this one all the way through?

Luigi Mangione became an infamous house hold name when he gunned down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December. The CEO was shot and killed in the streets of New York City while he was there for a conference, and ever since authorities were able to identify and track down Mangione, the internet has been creepily enthralled.

The online response has been concerning to say the least. Shows like Saturday Night Live  made jokes that made light of the murder, women have grossly found Mangione attractive, and some “fans” have even been attending Mangione’s hearings and standing outside the New York court house where he’s facing murder charges.

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.

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 given power to people like Taylor Lorenz, who has tapped into the population that is sympathizing more with Mangione than the deceased CEO.

CNN even had the journalist/influencer on their network, where they basically gave a platform to Lorenz to make an argument as to why Luigi Mangione isn’t that bad of a guy. And before I throw it over to what she said, it might be helpful to know that to stan – or stanning – means to be obsessive about a high-profile individual (typically a celebrity).

Here’s what Taylor Lorenz had to say about Luigi Mangione and the public response to him assassinating a health care CEO, which aired on CNN:

“It’s hilarious to see these millionaire media pundits on TV clutching their pearls about someone stanning a murder when this is the United States of America. As if we don’t lionize criminals. As if we don’t stan murderers of all sorts, and we give them Netflix shows…

There’s a huge disconnect between the narrative and angles that the mainstream media pushes and what the American public feels. You see that in moments like this. And I can tell you, I saw the biggest audience growth that I’ve ever seen because people were like, ‘Oh, some journalist is actually speaking to the anger we feel.”

That last sentence right there should cause some alarm bells to go off. So you’re telling me that an independent journalist is really leaning into covering a story and speaking for a certain group of people because she saw her biggest audience growth from initially covering Mangione and painting him in somewhat of a heroic light? Hmm.. I wonder why she would do that?

Lorenz was then asked about the women that have been professing their love for Mangione, and supporting him while he’s in court. She confirmed that those thing are happening, and offered up perspective on why some females are looking at Luigi Mangione as a revolutionist:

“You’re going to see women especially, they’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, here is this man who’s revolutionary, who is famous, who is handsome, who’s young, who’s smart. He’s this person that seems like this morally good man, which is hard to find.'”

And if I haven’t made things clear enough so far (see the big CNN logo in the corner of the screen in the video above), this segment aired on the news network known as CNN.

I know she’s somewhat speaking on behalf of other women out there who might be idolizing Luigi Mangione, but calling him “revolutionary” and seemingly a “morally good man” are a little problematic in my eyes. I’ll concede that crime and criminals are big entertainment draws in the United States (just look at all the true crime podcasts), but nobody tuned into the Murdaugh Murders documentaries because they they thought he was good man… they watch it because the story was utterly insane.

And while people are obviously taking issue with the “morally good man” part, the part flying under the radar is the “which is hard to find.” As if there are no moral men in the world? She says it with such an “angry cat lady” energy and the guy laughs right along with her. What an insanely irrational and overbroad generalization, especially on the context of a cold blooded murderer. Just another prime example of completely unserious journalism. It’s increasingly challenging to find an unbiased news source nowadays, and CNN isn’t helping themselves by giving a platform to a journalist who certainly doesn’t seem to mind that a healthcare CEO was gunned down in the street. Of course, if you know anything about Lorenz, this is just par for the course with her…

The response so far to the segment can best be described as shock, as many on social media can’t believe that CNN would include a conversation like this in their coverage:

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