Transcript of Hear how social media is defending Luigi Mangione

Breaking news. The alleged CEO killer Luigi Mangione denied bail as many people are sympathizing with him online tonight. The book delay, deny, defend, which is about the health insurance industry's tactics, jumping to number 2 on Amazon's nonfiction bestsellers list. Number 2. Safe to say that book would never have been anywhere near number 2 if it were not for Luigi Mangione.

Those 3 words, delay, deny, defend, were almost identical to the ones found on shell casings near the crime scene. And on Yelp, the McDonald's where he was apprehended has been hit with a flood of 1 star reviews, calling the employees, quote, snitches and rats. Jason Carroll is out front. This Ivy League hottie named Luigi is the Robin Hood that we never knew that we needed.

I listened to Luigi's manifesto this morning 3 times, and I cried. Honestly, it's beautiful, and I agree with him.

At least he left a very powerful message, and he highlighted how terrible the health care system is in America. I think he'll go down as a hero in history.

He'd been a named suspect for less than 48 hours, and yet within a fraction of that time, many in the world of social media had already made up their minds about Luigi Mangione.

I'm just eating it up because this is like regular everyday person becoming our hero, our vigilante.

These types of comments angering law enforcement and public officials.

I don't carry your views about health care companies because I don't think they're great right now either. But you do not celebrate the assassination of another human being who is just doing his job.

But interest in Mangione just continues to grow. On x before his arrest announcement, he had just 64 followers. Now more than 320,000 and counting. His initial 827 followers on Instagram grew exponentially Monday as we watched. By 3 o'clock, more than 32,000.

An hour later, 53,000. By 5 o'clock, Monday, more than 71,000 followers before that account was suspended. Many of the comments calling for his freedom and calling him a hero. Hear me on this. He is no hero.

The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald's. That McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania where workers spotted the 26 year old eating and called 911 Monday targeted by Mangione's supporters. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna stop eating McDonald's. It got so bad, Google had to remove reviews after that location was flooded with negative comments.

Someone hung a banner above I 83 with the words deny, defend, oppose, health care for all, a reference to bullet casings left at the crime scene. Amazon pulled apparel and home goods featuring the phrase. Online, Mangione may be a folk hero to some, but offline and in person, no shortage of those condemning him. Health care is a mess in this country, but to celebrate somebody's death is sickening.

The people in these higher positions like CEOs, they need to look at themselves and their company and ask themselves, why are people so ready to condemn us? Why are they so willing to call someone who supposedly killed another human being a hero?

While some suspect support for Mangione is not all about rage against health care, but instead something far more subjective and superficial.

It's the halo effect, like, manifesting in real society. You really Like, I truly believe so. Like, people treat people who are attractive, like, way differently.

People are, like, giving him leeway with this because they are fantasizing him a little bit, but I don't think violence should ever be the answer no matter the circumstance.

Erin, this could just end up being 1 of those cases that just ends up capturing the attention of the American people for a period of time. And, I mean, you look at what's happening right now on eBay at less checks, still selling merch related to this case, and the hashtag free Luigi Mangione is something that's still trending even at this hour. Erin. Incredible.

Jason, thank you very much. It was fascinating just to hear from all of those people. RJ Martin is back with me now. He's the owner of Surf Break Honolulu HNL, a co living community in Honolulu where he lived with and was good friends with Luigi Mangione, the suspected CEO killer. So, RJ, I'm glad to speak with you again as as things happen here.

It's it's so important to have your input and insight because you know him better than than, well, many. I mean, most people that were close to him. So when you see the video of, your friend Luigi shouting entering court today to face these charges, you know, when he was basically resisting and he's fighting and he's, screaming out, what what do you think when you see that? Is that is that in any way the person that you know?

I would like to I'd like to comment on the video of him giving his valid experience speech.

Yeah. Go ahead.

Thoughtful, humble, good listener. That that's the Luigi I knew. Somebody who could lead a conversation, but at the same time, listen more than he spoke. Somebody who, you know, really cared about those around him and had a larger mind that was socially conscious, somebody that was just good to of

the board of trust

me and the other people that, that we live together with at Surf Break.

And and so, you know, and and I know you've talked about that's the person that you knew, obviously, not not the the the the sort of anger and the rage that we saw today. And you said you didn't see or hear any anger or rage even when he was talking about things like capitalism or housing or health care or things that he was, had criticism for, but that there was an intellectual sort of criticism as you described it to me before. He had posted a review for the Unabomber's manifesto online, and that's been available for a while for people to see. Right? And I know as part of the book club that he had started with you at surf break, you know, he had also, put the Unabomber manifesto as something for that group.

What did he say about that at the time?

You know, we had a lively discussion about the manifesto as a group, a collective discussion, but nothing about it, I think, stood out more than other conversations that we had. And, you know, frankly, I think after greeting and skimming part of it, I don't think the ideas in it were that original in terms of, you know, you know, we're destroying our planet and how we need to reevaluate our systems. So nothing about that conversation stuck stuck out. He wasn't upset. He wasn't angry.

I've never seen him upset or angry even. Definitely would put him in the the chill, like, nonviolent category of of people.

So, last night, we when when we spoke, you talked about his back and how much that was just weighing on him and the pain and that even a basic surfing lesson kept him in bed for a week. He had to get a new mattress. And police are now saying they think that that that back pain may be central to what happened here. I'm curious though when you talked about, his social life a bit when you and I had that conversation. We didn't get to talk about the implications of the pain that he was going through.

Did he did he date when you knew him? Did he talk at all about his romantic life?

You know, if you are in severe pain on and off, it's obviously gonna affect all aspects of your life. You know, out of respect for his privacy and for the survey community privacy, I, don't wanna comment at all on his dating or any of the other members dating while while we live together.

Yeah. No. I don't mean whether they were dating. I just mean I know that, you know, you've talked a bit about the the, you know, how how the back pain that he had could have made it impossible for him to be physically intimate and that this was something that may have been frustrating for him. As they try to understand sort of what he was going through, do you think that this could end up being something important?

I think that pain is, something that can change our brain chemistry. You know? I think it's something that changes our thoughts. And I don't know because I don't have firsthand knowledge from him of how much pain he was in or what he was dealing with. But I do know, you know, from personal experience and from other friends and and family that when somebody's suffering, the way they think about themselves and the world gets warped drastically.

And a lot of times, you you go to dark places when you're in excruciating pain and, you know, perhaps not receiving the care or the support that you need.