Shortly after Luigi Maggione was arrested Monday, his fans started creating GoFundMe pages to help the suspected CEO’s killer … but the company has officially shut down all campaigns, according to TMZ.
Here’s the deal … Luigi Mangione was arrested Monday … and hours later, Manhattan DA accused him of murder on the cheeky 4th of December fatal shooting of Brian Thompson.
What appears to be just minutes after his name and photos surfaced … his smitten fans began creating multiple crowdfunding site pages to help Mangione with legal bills.
However … as of Tuesday morning … every page has been pulled, the company tells us that stuff like this isn’t going to fly.
A spokesperson for the company tells TMZ… “GoFundMe’s Terms of Service prohibit fundraisers for the legal defense of violent crimes. The fundraisers have been removed from our platform and all donors have been refunded.”
That said … new pages keep coming up and the company needs to keep playing a game of Whack-a-mole with them.
There is certainly a large portion of the country that supports the cold-blooded assassination of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare because of their bitter hatred of the health insurance companies…hence suspect Mangione has become a sick folk hero.
The odd adoration was simmering even before Mangione’s arrest … but it really took off after his arrest.
A few minutes after the suspect was identified and netizens found his socials… fans started posting Super Mario Bros and ‘Sopranos’ memes celebrating Mangione.
It’s not such a big surprise that it exists now merchandise celebrating the suspect … From shirts to mugs, from a Christmas ornament to even a Time Person of the Year parody cover … the sick offerings just keep on expanding.
Monday morning … Mangione was broke in Altoona, Pennsylvania like him sat inside a McDonald’s restaurant. A customer recognized Mangione from widely circulated wanted posters after Thompson’s murder and told an employee … who then contacted local police, who responded and handcuffed the suspect.
Authorities recovered the handgun Mangione allegedly used in the killing and a 3-page manifesto he had written to bash Corporate America and the health care industry, police said.
We’ve reached out to Esty for comment on the sickening deals … so far, no word back.