‘SNL’ Audience Cheers For Man Charged With Murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO

The audience at NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” cheered upon hearing the name of Luigi Mangione, the man who is charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City earlier this month.

It happened when “Weekend Update” anchor Colin Jost began to talk about Mangione being transported back to New York City by authorities after he was captured in Pennsylvania. Jost barely managed to mention Mangione’s name before the audience cheered and he stopped mid-joke to acknowledge the elation in the room.

SNL Weekend Update mentions CEO kiIIer Luigi Mangione and the crowd applauds & cheers pic.twitter.com/Hn6k2kTBp2

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 22, 2024

“Yea. Yea. Definitely, ‘Woo!'” Jost quipped, looking around the room and eliciting a round of laughter. “You’re wooing for justice right?”

Jost then returned to his joke.

“Luigi Mangione dropped his extradition fight and was flown from Pennsylvania to New York to face multiple charges. In related news, Bumble exploded,” he said, referring to a dating app.

The popular “End Wokeness” account shared a clip of the moment on X, prompting some criticism.

“Revolting. Sickening. Vile,” said Stephen Miller, senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump.

“So disgusting… and Colin Jost just smirks away as if it’s all one big giggle. Shameful moment for SNL,” said British broadcaster Piers Morgan.

“Yup,” said podcast host Tim Pool. “This was always the left.”

“Too many leftists are sick, evil monsters,” said Mike Davis, a former Senate staffer who now leads the Article III Project. “They only respect power. Power is their god. So we must use power to crush them. Legally, financially, and politically. No mercy.”

Mangione, 26, faces a bevy of state and federal counts for murder and other crimes that could lead to prison time or even the death penalty if there are convictions. A lawyer for Mangione has indicated his client plans to fight the charges.

Some people have come to idolize Mangione in part for his physical appearance and because of frustration with the health insurance industry.

The New York Post reported instances of people even getting his face tattooed on their bodies. And a group of Mangione’s supporters even showed up to a courthouse in Pennsylvania last week when he waived his extradition to New York.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch chided those who celebrated Thompson’s killing.

“Let me say this plainly, there is no heroism in what Mangione did. This was a senseless act of violence. It was a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put New Yorkers at risk,” Tisch said. “We don’t celebrate murders and we don’t lionize the killing of anyone. And any attempt to rationalize this is vile, wreckless, and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice.”