A television reporter works near the scene of the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, a top UnitedHealthcare executive, in Manhattan, on Dec. 4.KARSTEN MORAN/The New York Times News Service
When news broke Wednesday morning that the CEO of one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States had been brazenly shot and killed in midtown Manhattan, the reaction on social media was swift – and jubilant.
The killing of Brian Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare UNH-N, unleashed a mix of morbid celebration, memes, jokes and scores of personal stories detailing negative experiences with the American health insurance industry.
“Thoughts and deductibles to the family,” quipped scores of posts on X. “We regret to inform you your ambulance ride yesterday was out of network,” read a Reddit post. On TikTok, musician Philip Labes performed an original song on a wistful acoustic guitar, singing, “Was the gunshot pre-existing? Please hold while we decide algorithms for your children. What’s the value of their life?”
The gunman, who wore a black face mask and used a pistol with a silencer, has yet to be identified and police believe he has left New York.
What we know about the deadly shooting of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson
Police release new photos as they search for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO
Social media is usually a divisive and polarizing space. But Mr. Thompson’s killing contains a strange confluence of factors – a weapon more commonly seen in Hollywood movies than in real life, a widely maligned industry, an attractive suspect – producing a rare ideological alignment on social media. On Reddit communities across the political spectrum, commenters have posted “Eat the Rich” memes and shared stories of being denied coverage by UnitedHealthcare.
The reaction highlights the widespread frustration and anger with American health insurance companies , turning Mr. Thompson – a husband, father and CEO with a US$10.2-million salary package in 2023 – into a symbol of an unfair system. But it also showcases how social media is designed to reward content that reduces complex issues into simpler narratives.
As more details trickled out about the case, the furor intensified online. Bullet casings from the crime had the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” written on them, according to law enforcement, an apparent reference to a commonly used phrase by lawyers and critics about insurance companies that delay payments, deny claims and defend their actions. An image captured from surveillance footage of the primary suspect smiling put the collective internet over the edge.
“So is there a Mrs. Guy Who Shot the United Healthcare CEO or?” read one comment on X, which has generated more than 95,000 likes. Others on social media said the suspect looked like actor Timothée Chalamet and proposed organizing a “lookalike contest,” referencing a recent explosion of celebrity doppelganger contests across the U.S.
“People use these platforms to air grievances and frustrations,” says Merlyna Lim, an associate professor at Carleton University who studies activism and social movements online. “The celebratory memes and jokes around the murder reflect not an endorsement of violence, but it is more like a cathartic release of collective anger to systemic issues, like inequality and perceived exploitation.”
In this case, Mr. Thompson’s humanity has been reduced into a symbol of greed and corruption, rather than as an individual victim. The online jokes and memes have garnered backlash, too, for glorifying killing, with health care professionals fearing there could be a spillover effect in which health care workers could face more violence.
“His murder has become a talking point for the critics of capitalism and the ultrawealthy,” says Ms. Lim. “And it is aligned with populist narratives that are becoming so rampant and simplify everything into ‘Us vs. Them’, ‘We the people against the corrupt elite.’”
Police believe the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare’s CEO quickly left NYC on a bus after shooting
The internet has a history of revelling in the public demise of the famous and uber-wealthy in the past. The 2023 death of former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who oversaw the carpet bombing of Cambodia that killed as many as hundreds of thousands of civilians, elicited an equally celebratory response. When the Titan submersible imploded that same year, with its wealthy passengers aboard, social-media onlookers provided morbid commentary.
With the widening gap between the rich and poor, and the increasing profile of billionaires such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, anti-capitalist rhetoric has become widespread online in recent years. Millennials and Gen Z are using the hashtag #eattherich on social media to express their disillusionment with capitalism and the status quo.
But this type of online commentary – specifically posts about the killing of Mr. Thompson – don’t necessarily reflect a greater ideological shift, says Justin Paulson, the director of the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University.
“The online commentariat can be quite contradictory on these kinds of matters, and expressions of frustration and resentment don’t necessarily reflect a coherent politics or ideology, much less an activist project,” says Mr. Paulson. “The commentary alone is thus unlikely to change very much beyond the greater use of bodyguards by those at the top of corporate hierarchies.”
The day after the fatal shooting of Mr. Thompson, UnitedHealth and CVS Health removed photos of their leadership teams from their websites.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that some health care professionals worry the online reaction to the shooting of Brian Thompson could result in more violence against health care workers.