Hasan Piker sparked backlash on Wednesday when he argued that Luigi Mangione allegedly killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson because he committed “social murder.”
Piker, a Twitch streamer, said Americans “understand” why Luigi Mangione allegedly killed Thompson due to the CEO’s alleged role in “social murder.”
“Friedrich Engels wrote about the concept of social murder. And Brian Thompson, as the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was engaging in a tremendous amount of social murder,” Piker claimed in an interview with the New York Times podcast The Opinions.
“And that was a fascinating story for me, because Americans are very Draconian about crime and punishment. They’re very black and white on this issue. And yet, because of the pervasive pain that the private health care system had created for the average American, I saw so many people immediately understand why this death had taken place,” he added.
Piker even said the pain of healthcare costs have become so “universalized” that “virtually every American had a similar experience,” highlighting the many Americans who spent their last days arguing with healthcare providers.
“That’s a harrowing process for a lot of people. And for them, that is murder; for them, that is torture. And that is the reason why, I think, the reaction to Luigi Mangione, especially by younger generations, was not so negative,” Piker said.
Luigi Mangione has become a rockstar for leftists ever since he allegedly assassinated Brian Thompson in cold blood on the streets of New York in 2024. In April of last year, former Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz even referred to him as a “morally good man” precisely because of his alleged crimes.
“Here’s this man who’s a revolutionary, who’s famous, who’s handsome, who’s young, who’s smart, he’s a person who seems like he’s this morally good man, which is hard to find,” Lorenz told CNN.
Lorenz also accused the mainstream media of “clutching their pearls” and pushing an out-of-touch “narrative.”
“It’s hilarious to see these millionaire media pundits on TV clutching their pearls about someone stanning a murderer when this is the United States of America, as if we don’t lionize criminals,” Lorenz said.
“As if we don’t stan murderers of all sorts. And we give them Netflix shows. There’s a huge disconnect between the narratives and angles a certain mainstream media pushes and what the American public feels, and you see that in moments like this.”
