The internet is having a good laugh after the media kicked up a fuss about alleged United Healthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione having played the video game Among Us.
Following Monday’s arrest of Mangione, former colleagues and classmates have come forward with their accounts of interacting with the alleged murderer. No one has had anything particularly insightful to say, instead generally painting a picture of a regular guy with no glaring red flags that foreshadowed he might turn up in New York City to assassinate an insurance CEO.
Perhaps that’s why media outlets have started latching on to something proven to stir up the public—Mangione’s history of playing a “violent” video game.
Alejandro Romero, a former college classmate of Mangione’s, told NBC News that the two used to play the game Among Us together with other “Ivy League gamers.” Among Us, for those unfamiliar, is a multi-player game in which players try to determine who among them is secretly a killer.
“I just found it extremely ironic that, you know, we were in this game and there could actually be a true killer among us,” Romero said.
Did ‘Among Us’ create an assassin?
If that melodramatic commentary made you roll your eyes, you’re not alone.
reporters used to blame Call of Duty for murders, now they’ve moved on to… Among Us 🙃 pic.twitter.com/YT5izgZc7I
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) December 10, 2024
Despite numerous studies, there isn’t any evidence suggesting violent video games cause violent behavior in the real world. Yet people love to clutch their pearls and wag their fingers at violence in the media anytime they learn a guy with a gun has played a video game or watched horror movies or done something else that provides the opportunity to resurrect the Satanic panic vibes of the 1980s.
Doing so with Among Us has been particularly cringeworthy to watch considering the game looks like this:
lol it’s this game. AOC played it live. https://t.co/xQyy7sJPvz pic.twitter.com/7eLqojHSeW
— Ashe Short (@AsheSchow) December 10, 2024
People with the slightest grasp on the difference between fiction and reality took one look at the headlines tying Mangione to Among Us and immediately had a good laugh. Of all the narratives to try to build around this guy, alleging that he was radicalized by a cute little game is one of the goofiest to date.
Luigi Mangione x ‘Among Us’ get meme’d
Rather than laughing this one off, people have used it as the latest fodder in the seemingly endless memeification and babygirl-ification of everything related to Mangione and the United Healthcare CEO shooting.
After all, why ignore stupid commentary when you can relentlessly mock and meme it online instead?
— clyde bruckman’s ghost of christmas future’s final repose (@ultralaser.bsky.social) December 10, 2024 at 6:38 AM
Me and the homies getting arrested for playing “assassin video game” Among Us https://t.co/tEUJMCPUGL pic.twitter.com/uNn6IvDFKO
— ❄️Willow❄️ (@Captain_Phyco) December 10, 2024
Suspect appears to have practiced extracting human organs to sell on the black market via popular game “Operations”. Several of his victims died. https://t.co/EI0S1WWhib pic.twitter.com/Z5OmPVh13o
— Agnes (@AgnesEggnes) December 10, 2024
Me after playing a single game of Among Us pic.twitter.com/yfFa97lRE4
— Manlet Thorin (@ManletThorin) December 10, 2024
NBC: This guy played video games where you kill people!
— Draco (130/90) (@DracoMeteor) December 10, 2024
The video game in question: https://t.co/uexzi5EB44 pic.twitter.com/SB31qw4A5X
At this point, we kind of can’t wait to see what gets dug up about Mangione’s past next. Maybe he listened to rock ‘n’ roll or spent Saturday nights out dancing and smoking the reefer. Or perhaps he was exposed to cataclysmic violence from a young age in the form of a cunning roadrunner repeatedly dropping anvils on the head of a shifty coyote.
um
— Among Us 🚀 (@AmongUsGame) December 10, 2024
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