Award-winning director Michael Moore, famend for his important documentaries on the American healthcare system, has reacted to the surprising homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by accused killer Luigi Mangione. The killing, which occurred outdoors a Manhattan lodge, has ignited a wave of public outrage, and Mangione allegedly referenced Moore’s 2007 movie SICKO in a manifesto praising the director’s publicity of the US healthcare system.
In a publish on his Substack Friday, Moore responded to Mangione’s alleged remarks, quipping, “It’s not usually that my work will get a killer five-star evaluation from an precise killer.”
The director, who has been vocal in regards to the flaws of the healthcare business for years, acknowledged the wide-reaching affect of SICKO, stating that hundreds of thousands, together with Mangione, have seen the movie.
Moore then delved right into a extra severe dialogue within the publish titled “A Manifesto In opposition to For-Revenue Well being Insurance coverage Firms,” the place he condemned the homicide whereas concurrently lambasting the medical health insurance business that he believes is liable for widespread struggling in America. “Sure, I condemn homicide,” Moore wrote, “and that’s why I condemn America’s damaged, vile, rapacious, bloodthirsty, unethical, immoral well being care business and I condemn each one of many CEOs who’re accountable for it.”
The filmmaker additional remarked on the rising public anger towards insurance coverage firms, which he described as “fully justified.” Moore made it clear that he wouldn’t draw back from stoking that anger. “It isn’t new. It has been boiling. And I’m not going to tamp it down or ask individuals to close up. I wish to pour gasoline on that anger,” he added.
Mangione, who was arrested Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania, is accused of killing Thompson after allegedly harboring deep frustrations with the insurance coverage big. The killing befell as Thompson was strolling to a convention in Manhattan. Authorities discovered Mangione in possession of a number of pretend IDs, a US passport, and writings in regards to the insurance coverage business, together with the manifesto that praised Moore’s important work on healthcare.
Within the manifesto, Mangione wrote, “Frankly I don’t fake to be essentially the most certified individual to put out the total argument. However many have illuminated the corruption and greed (e.g.: Rosenthal, Moore), many years in the past and the issues merely stay.”
Moore, identified for different impactful documentaries like Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, referred to as out insurance coverage executives in his publish, accusing them of inflicting hurt corresponding to the terrorists behind 9/11. “These insurance coverage firms and their executives have extra blood on their fingers than a thousand 9/11 terrorists,” Moore declared. “And that’s why they’re scrubbing their executives’ profiles from their web sites and placing up fences round their headquarters. As a result of they know what they’ve accomplished.”
