The Hot Seat

Luigi Mangione, an American man who is the prime suspect in the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gained media attention that quickly changed the narrative of his crime. The coverage of Mangione was carefully produced in a way to make him more admired to the general audience.  As Figueira explains (2024, Para 5.) “The media coverage of Mangione didn’t stop at the visuals. It added layers of context that transformed him from a perpetrator into a relatable figure..... The narrative wove in his family’s tragedies—grandparents who passed away after being denied proper treatment by the same healthcare system. This made him not just a victim but a vessel for collective frustration.” Over social media Mangione was not seen as a merciless killer but rather embraced as a symbol of  resistance to big corporations that thrive from the less privileged. As stated Kilgannon et al.,( 2024)” More than $500,000 has been poured into an online legal defence fund, which Mangione’s high-powered team of lawyers have said he will accept. “Despite facing heinous criminal charges the public image of Mangione is highlighted in a positive manner as his actions were  for the people that the insurance company frauds leaving him with overwhelming support. 

Gypsy rose Blanchard  was convicted of Second-degree murder of her mother DeeDee Blanchard in 2016. Her mother suffered from Munchkin by proxy syndrome, a mental illness in which a caregiver will lie and provoke symptom to their child to gain sympathy from the public. However, as the public got knowledge of the years of abuse subjected by her mother they were quick to  spread support for Gypsy. According to a Tide article, “The media and public ate this story up because of how crazy and unreal the whole situation was, from her mom faking Gypsy’s illnesses to the plotting and stabbing of her mom.” (Purohit, 2024, para.3). Her story quickly morphed from her being heartless child killer to a young woman who was psychologically and physically tormented for her entire childhood and part of adulthood. Upon her release late December 2023 her intricate case has gained traction to many true crime fans countless movies and even an HBO series to be created reenacting her case. Blanchard release date and public appearance on TikTok, was the fuel for her popularity.  As Purohit (2024) remarks , “Memes on TikTok claim to have rebranded Blanchard as a symbol of ‘girlbossing’ and are introducing an unconventional view of what it means to be unjustly incarcerated.” 

Who has a better reputation for defrauding rich New York elites by posing as a German heiress than Anna Sorokin?  Most notable known as Anna Delvey. Despite the gravity of her crimes the media had a field day with Delvey story. The Netflix original series Inventing Anna emphasized her charisma and how she used it to scam many into gaining what she wanted. While minimizing her behavior from her actions. As Featherstone (2022, Para.7) states, ·“Inventing Anna mutes the most irresistible dimension of Delvey’s story — namely, the moral ambiguity at its heart. Who deserves wealth? No one does and yet we all do, and that’s why we love Anna Delvey.”

 Delvey’s actions were viewed not solely through her ways of lying but through the reflection of norms around wealth. As Featherstone empathizes, (2022, para. 8) “That’s just what Anna Sorokin was hoping to be. In the modern world, birth isn’t supposed to determine our access to opportunities and money, yet it certainly does. Her story is equally illuminating about our society’s attitude toward inherited wealth: we glorify the self-made and mock those with “trust funds,” but Sorokin would have had so many more opportunities had she been born into millions and millions of dollars, as she claimed.” By portraying Delvey as a person who navigated their way through a capitalist system with skill, the media was quick to glorify her behavior. Presenting the idea that her behavior was an act of resistance of the system she was not born into but had to challenge her  way in.

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