A University of Pennsylvania professor made a few of her social media accounts non-public and appeared to take down her TikTookay account after going viral for showing to rejoice that the suspected killer of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson was a graduate of the Ivy League faculty.
Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of executing the previous insurance coverage govt on a New York City sidewalk final week. He was taken into custody on Monday at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
He is needed in New York for expenses together with Murder within the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon within the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument within the Second Degree.
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 News 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 one TikTookay, 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 reads, “Have by no means been prouder to be a professor on the University of Pennsylvania,” she wrote, changing the “E” in Pennsylvania with the quantity 3.
A Benjamin Franklin sculpture on the University of Pennsylvania is seen in 2011. (John Greim/LightRocket by way of Getty Images)
Alekseyeva is an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies on the college and identifies herself as “a socialist and ardent antifascist” on her website.
The posts picked up steam after they have been reposted to X by well-liked account Libs of TikTookay and UPenn graduate Eyal Yakoby.
“DISGUSTING,” Yakoby wrote in response. “UPenn professor Julia Alekseyeva celebrates the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murderer and that the assassin attended UPenn. To anybody questioning how America’s youth turns into so radical to homicide somebody, it’s due to 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 News Digital)
Yakoby additionally shared an alleged screenshot from Alekseyeva’s Instagram tales the place she known as Mangione, “the icon all of us want 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 put up was shared to X by others, Alekseyeva has made her Instagram account non-public and seems to have taken down her TikTookay account beneath the identical identify, although her X account nonetheless stays public.
The University of Pennsylvania and Alekseyeva didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
Other professors have additionally acquired backlash for his or her scorching takes mocking Thompson’s murder.
“Today, we mourn the dying of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gunned down…. wait, I’m sorry – at the moment we mourn the deaths of the 68,000 Americans who needlessly die annually in order that insurance coverage firm execs like Brian Thompson can turn out to be multimillionaires,” Anthony Zenkus, a senior lecturer in social work at Columbia University’s School 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. (Photo Credit: Businesswire | NYPD Crimestoppers)
Zenkus’ put up 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 somebody publicly in chilly blood in broad daylight is rarely okay,” he wrote in a follow-up put up on December 6. “Best we kill them by denying or delaying their declare for life-saving medical remedy so their households can watch them wither away until they die slowly and in extreme and excruciating ache.”
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 Post reporter Taylor Lorenz shared a number of posts showing to not less than perceive the killing whereas suggesting different medical health insurance executives ought to be focused.
Hours after information broke of Thompson’s dying, Lorenz wrote on the social media website Bluesky, “And individuals marvel why we would like these executives lifeless,” alongside a report about Blue Cross Blue Shield now not protecting 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 appearing to tell TV host Piers Morgan that she felt “pleasure” over Thompson’s homicide.
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Fox News’ David Rutz, Kaylee Holland contributed to this report.
