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Comedian Tim Dillon appeared as the “ghost”. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson during Netflix‘s Ignited 2024: Roast of the Year, less than a month later an insurance executive is murdered in Manhattan.
The 39-year-old stand-up and podcast host appeared dressed similarly to the widely circulated photo of Thompson, 50, wearing a navy sweater and tan khakis. He was also wrapped in black chains and threw orange pill bottles into the crowd, announcing, “This is fentanyl, laced with more fentanyl.”
The 45-minute special was filmed at The Bellwether in Los Angeles and is now streaming on Netflix.
“I am Brian ThompsonDillon announced, while the audience laughed nervously. “I’m going to hell for this… you might as well laugh.”
“I’m the CEO of UnitedHealthcare and I understand that many of you are happy that I’m dead,” he continued. “Yes, I read the tweets! You think they don’t have an X in hell? That’s all they have in hell! Half the people commenting there are burning in a vat of boiling oil.
“Let me tell you, your reaction to my murder makes me sick… not the kind of sick that I’d immediately deny if I didn’t have the proper paperwork. You must have papers!”
Dillon joked that Thompson’s last thought was, “I love my job.”
“Yes, because I help people,” he continued. “Not by providing health care, but by denying it! Oh, your grandma needs her insulin? Maybe your grandmother needs to make better decisions.”
He continued: “The truth is, this country would fall apart without people like me, screwing people like you, to help people like me… and that’s up to you.”
He later added: “If you’re happy I’m dead, the joke’s on you. Most people think I’m out of the game right now because I’m rotting in hell. Wrong! I’m working remotely and harder than ever.”
Earlier this month, Luigi Mangione has been charged with murder in connection with Thomson’s Dec. 4 death.
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Mangione, 26, was spotted eat a meal at McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a nationwide search. He was then extradited to New York.
This week he pleaded not guilty that state charges of terror and murder ua Manhattan courtroom.
He faces 11 counts in New York, including first-degree murder to promote terrorism, second-degree murder to promote terrorism and multiple weapons charges. Federal prosecutors also charged Mangione with murder. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted of the state charges, but could face the death penalty if convicted of the federal charges.