BURSTCNN anchor Jim Acosta condemned the glorification of the suspected gunman in the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, calling the “avalanche of comments” in support of the killing on social media “yet another sign” of today’s toxic culture.
“In just the last 24 hours, social media users have seized on the suspect’s appearance. It’s yet another sign of the toxicity of the public discourse in the U.S,” Acosta said Tuesday, in an on-air discussion with CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter.
“It should go without saying that a murder like this is just unbelievably tragic, and he has a family, and it’s completely uncalled for, full stop,” Acosta said.
Stelter said it’s important for media to cover the “pent-up anger” that exists behind the online vitriol, noting, "There is something real here,” but that “you've got to have still a line of decency.”
He also pointed to social media as a factor in amplifying the vitriol.
“What they really want, I think, is reform. But instead of calling for political reform… they're making it very simple, way too simplistic,” Stelter said. “And I think, Jim, this is what we see in an environment, in a culture, where people will say things behind a computer screen they would never say to a person's face. This is a very vivid demonstration of that.”
Acosta similarly urged young people to channel their frustrations toward organizing and pushing for political reform and legislation.
“Certainly people feel passionately about our health care industry,” Acosta said, noting he, too, has gotten letters from health insurers denying coverage of certain medical expenses and, “It’s infuriating. You want to pull your hair out.”
“But at the same time, there is a way for young people out there — who are going online and talking about the suspect’s appearance and so on — they can do something with their time other than going on these social media sites and posting these kinds of comments,” Acosta said. “They can go organize. They can do the things that can be done to get legislation passed in this country.”
“It might be a lot harder than posting your hot take on social media, but my goodness, that is how you get real change in this country,” he said. “Not doing what Mangione did and certainly not putting him up on a pedestal.”
The suspect in Thompson’s killing — Luigi Mangione, 26 — faces five counts including murder in the second degree, according to an arrest warrant. He also faces two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate, was arrested Monday after he was recognized at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., a couple of hours outside of Pittsburgh. He “became quiet and started to shake” when asked if he had been to New York recently, police officers wrote in his criminal complaint.
Thompson was fatally shot last week outside New York Hilton Midtown, where he was set to address an annual investor meeting.