Luigi Mangione is on trial for murder. The fact that many in the US are glorifying him as a hero is partly due to the media

The premiere will be held in San Francisco on June 13th. "Luigi: The Musical" will be performed. The title character is Luigi Mangione, currently imprisoned in New York. The 26-year-old graduate of an elite university and scion of a wealthy family is accused of murder. He is accused of cold-bloodedly shooting Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, one of the world's largest health insurers. He faces the death penalty.

"Luigi: The Musical," according to the website, doesn't aim to celebrate violence. Rather, it aims to use satirical means to "raise deeper cultural questions." Among other things, it aims to provide explanations for Mangione's popularity, his status as an internet folk hero, and America's disillusionment.

These are indeed interesting questions. One answer is already obvious: Luigi Mangione owes his status as a folk hero to a media spectacle, despite being suspected of murder.

Even the beginning was worthy of a movie. Shortly after Mangione allegedly fired three shots outside the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan at 6:45 a.m. on December 4, 2024, surveillance images and videos of the cold-blooded execution circulated. The victim's identity was revealed, and a multi-day, live media manhunt for the killer followed.

In the five days leading up to Mangione's arrest at a McDonald's, the media revealed details that lent a fictional and literary dimension to the murder. Words inscribed on the bullet casings cited an internal motto of the health insurance industry regarding the denial of insurance benefits. While escaping on a rental bike, the perpetrator intentionally left behind a backpack filled with Monopoly banknotes. Upon arrest, a handwritten manifesto from the suspect was found, in which he described health insurers as parasites who more than deserved their fate.

The clever staging did not fail to have its effect on the media. Feature magazines like the New Yorker and the Atlantic elevated the shooter to a kind of legendary status by suggesting anti-capitalist and humanitarian motives based on his biography. Essayists described how the handsome Penn University graduate embarked on a promising career as a computer scientist, how he was active on social media, practiced yoga, surfed in Hawaii, developed health problems, and ultimately became a supposed justice fanatic.

Parallels were drawn to ostracized and revered folk heroes in American history, from Jesse James to Bonnie and Clyde to Walter White, who in the TV series "Breaking Bad" mutates from a chemistry teacher to a crystal meth gangster because he cannot pay for his cancer treatment.

Hardly surprising, the first court hearings of the supposed anti-capitalist martyr became a public and media spectacle. Groupies and political activists, including whistleblower Chelsea Manning, united to form a "Free Luigi" movement. A Reddit group called "FreeLuigi" alone boasts around 39,000 members. According to a sample, the majority are female.

In addition, a crowdfunding campaign was launched with media coverage to cover legal costs. According to the pro-Luigi association "December 4th Legal Committee," sales of Luigi baseball caps, "Free Luigi" T-shirts, and holy pictures bearing his image have raised over one million dollars. After Mangione pleaded not guilty in April, more than 28,000 people donated $27 each on the occasion of his 27th birthday on May 6—approximately three-quarters of a million dollars.

Meanwhile, the legend of the folk hero and sexy revolutionary "Luigi" is gaining wider traction, in healthcare policy and even in the economy. According to journalist and author Walter Kirn, the mystification of "Luigi" serves political purposes: From the perspective of left-wing Democrats, his extreme actions demonstrate that the US healthcare system urgently needs "socially just" reforms. The left-wing exploitation of the alleged murder went so far that the niche media outlet "Washington Babylon" promoted Mangione as a potential US Secretary of Health.

High-profile journalist Taylor Lorenz, who sympathizes with Mangione, already sees the alleged shooter as a television star. After all, she said, in the US, murderers of all kinds get a Netflix show.

Of course, the responsibility for the "Luigi" phenomenon cannot be placed solely on the media. Many outlets emphasized that Mangione's actions should be categorically condemned. However, some followed up with a "but," claiming that healthcare companies are also evil. Moreover, everyone could hardly resist a story that seemed far too good. Therefore, turning it into a musical was only logical. The first five performances are already sold out.