This week's Saturday Night Live episode featured a cold open with Sarah Sherman as legal commentator Nancy Grace. In the sketch, Grace shames the internet for openly thirsting over Luigi Mangione, who was arrested in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, after photos of him circulated on social media following his arrest.
Mangione is a 26-year-old who was arrested last week in connection with the Dec. 4. shooting after police responded to a call from a McDonald's in Altoona, Pa. After his face was revealed, social media found pictures of him shirtless and shared them across platforms like X and TikTok, becoming somewhat of an internet darling.
The cold opening starts with a joke about Mangione's name, as Grace says, "It's game over, Luigi," with the sad sound from the Super Mario Bros. game. She's shocked that people are "hot and bothered" by photos of Mangione saying that he "looks like Dave Franco with Eugene Levy eyebrows" and made sure to provide a rendering.
"I mean, really, what is going on in this country? Y'all, this man is not a sex icon. This man is — and I cannot say this any clearer — a murderer," Sherman's Grace said in the sketch.
Longtime SNL cast member Kenan Thompson joined the sketch as an out-of-work man named Donnell Davis, who watched Mangione get arrested. Grace asked Davis if he can see why Mangione is getting this sort of attention now. "I mean, women love bad boys," he quips. "Back in the day, you could impress your old lady with a little poem, now you got to write a manifesto," referring to the written manifesto Mangione had with him when he was arrested.
"You know what my health insurance plan is? It's called 'hoping it goes away,'" Davis jokes when asked about his take on health care in the United States.
The sketch is also interjected by a fitness ad with cast member Marcello Hernandez playing an overzealous salesman.
The internet's interest in Mangione doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon, seeing that after his arrest, there's been a look-alike contest in New York City (one of the many) and fan fiction written about him.
