A College of Pennsylvania professor made a few of her social media accounts personal and appeared to take down her TikTok account after going viral for showing to have a good time that the suspected killer of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson was a graduate of the Ivy League college.
Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of executing the previous insurance coverage govt on a New York Metropolis sidewalk final week. He was taken into custody on Monday at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
He’s needed in New York for costs together with Homicide within the Second Diploma, Prison Possession of a Weapon within the Second Diploma and Prison Possession of a Solid Instrument within the Second Diploma.
Since Thompson’s homicide final week, social media has been flooded with posts celebrating or mocking Thompson’s killing as justified due to anger individuals really feel about their medical health insurance claims being denied.
Luigi Mangione pictured in a Pennsylvania mugshot after his arrest in reference to the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Obtained by Fox Information Digital)
After Mangione was taken into custody as an individual of curiosity on Monday, UPenn professor Julia Alekseyeva appeared to share a number of social media posts fawning over the homicide suspect.
In a single TikTok, Alekseyeva, who posts beneath the identify, “The Soviette,” smiles whereas enjoying the tune, “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from the well-known musical Les Miserables.
The textual content on display screen reads, “Have never been prouder to be a professor at the University of Pennsylvania,” she wrote, changing the “E” in Pennsylvania with the quantity 3.
A Benjamin Franklin sculpture on the College of Pennsylvania is seen in 2011. (John Greim/LightRocket by way of Getty Pictures)
Alekseyeva is an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Research on the college and identifies herself as “a socialist and ardent antifascist” on her web site.
The posts picked up steam after they had been reposted to X by widespread account Libs of TikTok and UPenn graduate Eyal Yakoby.
“DISGUSTING,” Yakoby wrote in response. “UPenn professor Julia Alekseyeva celebrates the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO’s assassin and that the murderer attended UPenn. To anyone wondering how America’s youth becomes so radical to murder someone, it is because of the extremist professors.”
CEO homicide suspect Luigi Mangione shouts as officers restrain him as he arrives for his extradition listening to in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. (David Dee Delgado for Fox Information Digital)
Yakoby additionally shared an alleged screenshot from Alekseyeva’s Instagram tales the place she known as Mangione, “the icon we all need and deserve,” in response to {a magazine} article purporting to know the homicide suspect’s sexuality.
Yakoby additionally claimed the professor had a historical past of left-wing activism on campus.
Since her publish was shared to X by others, Alekseyeva has made her Instagram account personal and seems to have taken down her TikTok account beneath the identical identify, although her X account nonetheless stays public.
The College of Pennsylvania and Alekseyeva didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
Different professors have additionally acquired backlash for his or her sizzling takes mocking Thompson’s homicide.
“Today, we mourn the death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gunned down…. wait, I’m sorry – today we mourn the deaths of the 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs like Brian Thompson can become multimillionaires,” Anthony Zenkus, a senior lecturer in social work at Columbia College’s College of Social Work, posted to X on December 4.
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UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning final week. (Photograph Credit score: Businesswire | NYPD Crimestoppers)
Zenkus’ publish racked up over 7 million views and was flooded with feedback criticizing him. In reply to those feedback, the professor clarified that he wasn’t justifying homicide.
“Murdering someone publicly in cold blood in broad daylight is never okay,” he wrote in a follow-up publish on December 6. “Best we kill them by denying or delaying their claim for life-saving medical treatment so their families can watch them wither away till they die slowly and in severe and excruciating pain.”
These professors definitely weren’t the one ones on social media expressing these sentiments.
Piers Morgan unloaded on Taylor Lorenz on Monday for claiming she felt pleasure over UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s homicide. (Screenshot/PiersMorganUncensored)
Former Washington Put up reporter Taylor Lorenz shared a number of posts showing to a minimum of perceive the killing whereas suggesting different medical health insurance executives needs to be focused.
Hours after information broke of Thompson’s loss of life, Lorenz wrote on the social media web site Bluesky, “And people wonder why we want these executives dead,” alongside a report about Blue Cross Blue Protect not overlaying anesthesia for the total size of some surgical procedures. The insurance coverage firm has since reversed course on this proposed coverage change after going through backlash.
Lorenz has since repeatedly doubled down, even showing to inform TV host Piers Morgan that she felt “joy” over Thompson’s homicide.
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Fox Information’ David Rutz, Kaylee Holland contributed to this report.
