The Exploitation and Objectification of Luigi Mangione

January 9, 2025

It's been a month since America's sweetheart was taken into custody on suspicion of being The Adjuster -- the currently still anonymous man who shot United Healthcare's CEO.

The world is still in love with him -- perhaps a bit too much at times -- but lately I've found myself getting a bit angry on his behalf at the way he's being talked about. And I don't mean by the media, which is worthy of just as much anger (if not more) but is completely unsurprising. As I discussed in my almost 10,000-word opus a couple of weeks ago, it's expected that the mainstream media, which has an interest in upholding the systems of oppression, would do everything they could to tear down the man who's being revered as a symbol of revolution.

In the month since we learned the primary suspect's name, internet sleuths have dug up everything they could about him; pictures of him not only as an adult, but as a young child and everything in-between, have been making the rounds all over social media; people of literally every gender and sexual orientation have fallen in love with him; and a bunch of people have come out of the woodworks claiming to be former friends or acquaintances of his -- some even including (alleged) details of his personal life.

There have even been a couple of so-called "documentaries" made, trying to paint him as a dangerous person, and straight-up calling him guilty and a killer despite the fact that he hasn't had a trial yet. In less than a month, there have already been two TV specials about him that I'm aware of, both of which -- from what I've read about them -- assumed his guilt. I haven't watched them, and I will not be watching them because they don't deserve the views. They are simply capitalizing off of his name and people's true crime obsessions, or, even worse, making up lies about him in an attempt to tarnish the public's view of him. It's not only biased and exploitative, but proves that the phrase "innocent until proven guilty" is a bald-faced lie.

I don't believe anything that's been said about him by past acquaintances is actually a bad thing -- even the two German guys he met on a trip to Thailand, who were paid to try and paint him as dangerous in the ridiculous TMZ documentary, couldn't come up with anything much worse than saying he went to a shooting range once -- but it's really starting to bother me that anyone has opened up to the media about him at all.

There are a few people who've only shared minimal information, speaking highly of him only to paint a positive picture of who he was. Those people are doing it correctly. Those are the people I believe were truly his friends and care about him.

But the supposed landlord who decided to tell the whole world that it was impossible for Luigi to date because it was hard to be intimate with his back pain?

The guy who claimed to be an ex-boyfriend, despite nothing (that I'm aware of) indicating that Luigi is publicly out as bi/queer? So now you're not only discussing an intimate relationship you supposedly had (if you're telling the truth about being with him or even knowing him at all, which I have my doubts about), but also potentially outing him to the world?

Why?

And also, where are all these pictures and video clips coming from? Especially things like the baby pictures, or the clip of him spending the holidays with his family. How is everyone on social media getting personal photos and videos like this? The latter is from TMZ's stupid show, but who gave it to them?

We, as in the public, do not need to know anything about this man's personal life. We don't need to know his sexual orientation unless he tells us himself. We don't need to know about his sex life or relationships. We don't need to see every photo that's ever existed of him and is clearly not being shared by the man himself. He doesn't have the ability to speak for himself, to explain or defend himself, deny any claims made about him, or even tell these people to shut their mouths. People are able to say whatever they want about him right now because he can't respond to it, and that bothers me.

And now there's an article circulating that was written by someone who claims to be one of the last people he interacted with digitally. I haven't read it, and perhaps I should before I start criticizing it -- though to be fair, I'm not criticizing it or its author directly. As far as I'm aware, it doesn't say anything negative about him, but I've heard it does go into detail about what their conversations were about. And that just rubs me the wrong way, even if it was done with good intentions. If he had those conversations with you in confidence, and now you're sharing them with the world, that feels like a violation of trust, even if sharing the conversations was meant as at attempt to clear his name.

It feels like people are just trying to get their 15 minutes of fame by claiming to have been friends with him in some capacity. But if you truly cared about him, wouldn't you want to respect his privacy? If I had been friends with him before all of this went down, I would be shutting my mouth right now, other than saying something simple like "He was a great guy, and I can't imagine him ever doing anything like what he's accused of." I would campaign for him to get a fair trial and make it known that I believe in his innocence, but would definitely not be sharing any private information.

I have never met Luigi, and I feel like I care about him more than some of these people who were supposedly his friends.

Between this and the disrespect I feel like he's being shown in regards to people's overwhelming attraction to him, I'm starting to feel not only disappointed but angry for him. Like I said before, I do totally understand the attraction -- believe me, I'm crushing too -- but it's imperative people keep his humanity in mind rather than treating him like an object.

Not only are there social media accounts filled with AI "photos" of him, which feature his head/face edited onto half-naked bodies that are not even his, in centerfold-esque pictures that he did not pose for; now there are also people writing romance/erotica stories about him without his consent.

I'm not trying to call out anyone by name, so I won't include that information here, but I recently saw an advertisement for a "steamy" novel available for pre-order, that is clearly directly based (not even "loosely" based) on him, and features an AI version of him on the cover. While I think the author is well-intentioned, saying that she will send 25% of the proceeds to him, I think it's inappropriate to write about him in this way without his consent. The author mentioned that she had written him a letter asking if it's okay to write this sort of content about him, but she has not received a response. When questioned, "What if he says no?" she said it wouldn't be the end of the world, but she "very much doubts" that he will. Again, I'm not trying to attack this author because I think she means well, but I just can't get over someone making the assumption that he'd be okay with it, then writing it, publishing it, and advertising it before getting an answer to such an important question.

Personally, I've always found it really creepy to write fan fiction about real-life people. This is nothing new; I remember being a teenager and seeing fan fiction about a made-up romantic relationship between two members of one of my favorite bands. I thought it was weird back then, and I think it's weird now. Not only are you writing about people in a sexual way without consent, but also assigning dialogue and personality traits to people you've never met. When it's fictional characters, go for it. When it's real-life humans, it's just weird. Really weird.

I have said, only half-jokingly, that Luigi's appearance has inspired me to go to the gym, because I now know that if I ever unexpectedly make the news for any reason, I want to look really good first.

I'm now second-guessing myself about that.

Please, universe, if I ever wind up accused of any sort of crime (wrongfully or otherwise), do not let anybody write erotica about me while I'm in jail. I'm not planning to and I hope I never do wind up incarcerated, but just in case, let me put it on the record right now: No, you may not write spicy content about me.

For his sake, I hope Luigi feels less strongly about it than I do. Maybe he would even find it amusing; I don't know because I don't know him and don't claim to. All I can do is imagine how I would feel in his shoes.

But the overall point I'm trying to make here is that he is an actual human being. It isn't like they're sharing these stories about somebody who remains anonymous; this man's name and face are everywhere. And people are using that for their own benefit.

Please, let's not treat him the way women get treated by men every day of our lives. None of us are objects who exist for anyone else's pleasure, but actual living, breathing individuals, with feelings, thoughts, opinions, and autonomy. Don't use somebody else's fame to get 15 minutes of your own. Don't capitalize on their name to sell products, or take money from TMZ to speak badly of them in a staged documentary. Don't share personal conversations or details of your relationship with them, or make up a relationship that you never actually had with them. Just have some respect.

(For the record, I do not make any money off of my blog, and if I ever do decide to monetize it, any post I write about other people, such as this one, will be excluded from that -- or if it's about a marginalized group, then proceeds will go to a reputable charity that benefits that group. This is something I've put a lot of thought into over the past few years, and something I plan to stick to if I go that route in the future.)

tags: the adjuster, luigi mangione