From the moment of his arrest, Luigi Mangione was among the most famous accused murderers of the 21st century. Mangione is charged with the execution-style slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The killing unleashed a torrent of rage at the healthcare system and made Mangione an unlikely star.
Not long after Mangione was identified as the suspect, TikToker Jake Schroeder (@jake_amazing) joined the throngs of netizens showing their appreciation for him online. In a TikTok post in early December, Schroeder sang about Mangione looking hot and pretty in the now-famous shirtless photo of the 26-year-old Ivy League grad. “Luigi, wanna kiss me, and I hope you plead insanity so capitalism’s blamed,” he ended the song with a quavering high note. He included a text overlay that says “that guy who shot that other guy is really hot.” (Mangione is pleading not guilty.)
The 37-second video went viral online. The next day, Schroeder found his song had garnered over a million streams. It had also apparently caught the attention of Fox News. In a recent phone conversation with the Daily Dot, he recalled a family friend texting him the news. “My mom just saw you on Fox,” they wrote.
Schroeder later sent Fox News a $500 invoice for airing his song. Fox ignored him, he said.
He could’ve let it go at that, but Shroeder was inspired. He created a satirical series claiming he’s suing the conservative network for intellectual property theft. The series went viral. Schroeder has acknowledged that it’s satire; nevertheless, many fans clearly believe that the legal dispute is real. They view Schroeder as a Robin Hood type figure taking on the rich and powerful right-wing network–similar to how many think of Mangione as a hero for the millions who’ve been harmed by the American healthcare system.
Schroeder is stunned by the turn of events.
“One day, I checked my phone and I saw a bunch of photos of that hot guy, and I thought maybe I should write a song and post it on the internet,” Schroeder told the Daily Dot. “It is funny that I took maybe 10 minutes to write the song, one take, and then Fox scraped it and positioned me as the voice of a generation. I was literally like, ‘This is crazy.’”
From virality to Fox News
Thompson was fatally shot on Dec. 4. A nationwide manhunt for his killer ensued. Within days, police had identified Mangione as the suspect and ultimately apprehended him.
By then, the internet was obsessed. Media outlets around the world took note of Mangione’s overnight stardom.
The nation’s largest right-wing TV network was among them.
In a segment called “The Internet’s in love with Luigi Mangione,” the Dec. 11 episode of Jesse Watters Primetime included clips of Schroeder’s song and posts by two other TikTokers. The anchor was joined by Taylor Burrowes, a dating and relationship expert, to discuss the accused killer’s popularity.
“When it comes to a man who is capable of that kind of danger, it almost reminds me of the American Psycho character of Patrick Bateman. He was very attractive to the public, so I think that is the anti-hero that we’re seeing play out in the character of Luigi,” said Burrowes.
Watters was unconvinced. He’s among those who are baffled by the public swooning over an accused murderer and even claimed in another Fox News show he hosted on the same day that he polled female employees about Mangione’s attractiveness.
“Well, thank you for opening my eyes to women. I have a lot more to learn,” said Watters. “Very interesting conversation. I’m very sad and disturbed as well.”
Schroeder also got in on the fanfare. He’s a recent college grad with a day job as an iOS engineer who writes musicals and songs as a hobby. Many of his songs criticize capitalism. Schroeder’s songs skewer giant corporations and poke fun at public figures like Elon Musk, Shou Zi Chew, Uber and In-N-Out Burger.
He has 62,000 followers on TikTok. Many of his clips have racked up hundreds of thousands of views or more. His Mangione and Fox News songs are among Schroeder’s most popular posts. Several have over 1 million views.
Fox News broadcasting his song has only bolstered his popularity. Shroeder didn’t recall any backlash after the network aired the clip.
@jake_amazing Ballad for luigi ❤️ #luigi ♬ original sound – Jake Schroeder
Though singing about an accused killer has made him an internet sensation, Schroeder said he understands murder is a crime.
“One salient point that I can make is that my generation is sort of desensitized by gun violence. Having grown up in school settings with shooter drills every month of our entire lives makes murder something that is not a larger discussion that we’re really prone to talk and feel and think about,” he said.
“My grandpa said ‘Those videos are disgusting, Jake, please take them down.’ But my cousins and my sister were like, ‘No, we totally get it.’ I think it’s just a sense of irony that’s baked into our generation through trauma.”
Schroeder said he was gagged by being on national news for the first few days, but his friends kept asking him if Fox had paid him. It began to seem like a reasonable request, he thought, so he sent the show an invoice for $500 via email.
“I sent it to Jesse Watters and his team, and I heard no reply,” he said. “I followed up and then heard no reply, figuring that they don’t take little twink songwriters in Brooklyn that seriously.”
Then he came up with the idea of creating a series of satirical songs pitting himself against the TV network.
The making of a viral video series
In the series, Schroeder has sung about hiring a lawyer, supposedly named Henry, to represent him in a lawsuit against Fox News for refusing to pay him. In another satirical clip, he claims Fox responded by sending a cease and desist. In yet another he claims to have been blocked by Watters and the network itself.
Each song includes lines singing Mangione’s praises accompanied by a similar melody as the viral song.
“Luigi, please meet Henry, he’s a lawyer who helped me sue Fox and low-key flip the status quo. Luigi, I can save thee, from a nasty foxy girl who makes the news into a showoo…” he sang in a video that attracted 57,200 likes and over 300,000 views.
Some commenters get the joke and join him in teasing Fox News. Other viewers, in all sincerity, have offered him legal advice and encouragement.
“At this point, as a lawyer, I have to believe someone at Fox secretly loves you and wants to see you get paid more,” wrote one commenter.
“I’d watch a show where you, Henry, and Luigi help people fight giant, evil corporations, like the A-term but with a keyboard,” said another.
“Send it to their billing department and let them know that for every day late it the fee is an additional 20%,” wrote a fan who seemed to be sincerely trying to help.
Fox News told the Daily Dot that Schroeder’s email was sent to the wrong email address and they never heard from him. The network declined to comment on the satirical series.
To make the videos seem more believable, Schroeder said he uses Adobe Photoshop to generate fake images of legal documents, such as that of a supposed “cease and desist” Fox sent him. At first, he was hesitant about going too far when some viewers panicked and truly believed the legal dispute was real. Later he decided his fans simply enjoy the content, so why not?
The series is nowhere near complete, said Schroeder. He sees the obsession people have with his creation, and he enjoys making people laugh, he said.
“It’s honestly a really fun, creative writing thing to further the story and keep writing little ditties that are just absurd, and people see what they believe online,” he said. “I don’t know, but I feel like it’s okay to lie on the internet, right?”
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