Luigi Mangione Resurfaces As Symbol of Anger Against California Insurers [Video]

The name of Luigi Mangione has come up often over the past few days in social media users’ discussions of the fires ravaging Southern California.

Many, angered by State Farm’s decision last summer to cancel hundreds of homeowners policies in some of the neighborhoods now devastated by the blazes, are looking at the 26-year-old as the type of avenger they wish would punish insurance companies that have cut coverage across the state.

Newsweek contacted State Farm for comment by email on Friday morning.

Why It Matters

The murder of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive Brian Thompson on December 4, and the online adulation of Mangione that followed it revealed the depth of Americans’ anger against health insurance companies in the country.

Mangione, whose appearance has been lionized on social media, has been made into something of a questionable folk hero, with people online hailing him as a symbol of justified violence against the perceived predatory behavior of insurance …