Mega podcaster Joe Rogan suggested that the public’s lack of sympathy for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is due to the “dirty business” he was involved in.
Rogan, 57, spoke with filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and producer Roger Avary on Tuesday’s episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” as they briefly kicked off the show by discussing a photo of accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione.
“I don’t think this guy was a professional,” Rogan said in the episode, which was taped about a week before alleged killer Mangione was captured Monday at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a five-day manhunt.
“I think this guy, if I had to guess, was a guy who was fooled,” the UFC commentator said. “Apparently that company is very bad at denying claims.”
Avary and Rogan then pointed out the staggering number of health insurance claim denial rates that UnitedHealthcare is accused of among its policyholders.
“I don’t think anyone will cry too hard about it [Thompson]”, said Avari.
“Maybe his family, but that’s it,” Rogan replied.
“It’s a dirty, dirty business. The insurance industry is f–king gross. It’s dirty. Especially health insurance. It’s fucking gross.”
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Thompson as the 50-year-old CEO walked to a Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference.
He was reported missing last month by his prominent Maryland real estate family after losing contact with them following recent back surgery.
The brilliant 26-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate was found with a ghost gun, masks, a US passport and extensive writings linking him to the ambush when he was arrested at McDonald’s in Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt.
What we know about the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
- Brian Thompson, the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was shot outside a luxury Midtown hotel on Wednesday in a “brazen, targeted attack,” police said.
- Thompson was named CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company under investigation by the Justice Department.
- Thompson’s wife, Paulette, said her husband had received threats before he was killed.
- Thompson’s shooting sparked sick support online and even sparked a tacky lookalike contest in New York.
- A person of interest has been arrested by police officers at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
- The suspect has been identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, originally from Towson, Maryland. He is a former Ivy League student who hated the medical community.
Follow The Post’s live updates on the news surrounding the murder of Brian Thompson.
He was charged with murder in New York on Monday evening after Pennsylvania authorities earlier in the day charged him with possessing a firearm without a license, forgery and providing false identification to police.
Police are investigating a three-page manifesto-like document that Mangione had with him.
The alleged manifesto included angry comments about “parasitic” health insurers and expressed disdain for corporate greed and power.
The Ivy League graduate also reportedly wrote that the US has the most expensive health care system in the world and that corporate profits continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not.
The handwritten document said to have been found with Mangione contained a line in which he claimed to have acted alone.
“To the FBI, I’ll be brief because I respect what you do for our country. To spare you a lengthy investigation, I clearly state that I have not collaborated with anyone,” sources said in the document.
The details emerged as police continued to piece together a possible motive for the cold-blooded murder – including whether a vendetta against the medical industry fueled Mangione after he suffered from chronic back pain.
Mangione is being held in a Pennsylvania prison while he fights extradition to New York.
