NEWS
Ethel Cain has shared her thoughts on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, saying that while she wasn’t being “reactionary”, violence was “sometimes” the answer, while using the hashtag “KillMoreCEOs”.
Healthcare boss Thompson was shot dead outside a Manhattan hotel last December, with the killer remaining at large for several days afterwards. The suspect, initially described as a white man wearing a mask, fled the scene.
The police later arrested lead suspect Luigi Mangione at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania after an employee recognised him from New York Police Department images. A three-page manifesto was found in his possession, in which he criticised the American healthcare system.
In a series of Instagram Story posts made yesterday (January 10), the ‘Punish‘ musician also expressed frustration with the system, having only recently called American politics a “breeding ground for violent hatred”.
Cain initially shared a post by Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, which lambasted powerful collectives like the NRA (National Rifle Association), “Big Oil” and insurance companies who were able to “buy off Congress”.
In a follow-up story, Cain shared her perspective, writing: “Not even trying to be reactionary or “edgy” or say this shit for shock value, i genuinely mean what i say. corporations giggle at protesting.
“why would anyone ever willingly come down off their throne that they’ve spent years building off the suffering of their fellow man? nobody is getting visited by the ghost of christmas future, no one is having a change of heart.”
She went on to say “it” – being provoking change – was simple, “You make them fear for their lives and hit them in the only place they hurt or nothing will ever get done,” and questioned why that was a “radical” idea.
“It seems quite straightforward to me,” she wrote. “‘Violence is never the answer’ wrong. sometimes it is.” She concluded in a final story by adding: “The world is burning and it’s very clear who’s holding the matches.”
As for Mangione, he has dominated headlines in recent months and developed somewhat of a cult following online, with his supporters either engaging more seriously with his political beliefs and positioning him as a “folk hero”, or more simply dubbing him a “hot assassin” who is “husband” material.
Since his arrest, Mangione has become an internet meme phenomenon, with variations of “#FreeLuigi” posted on X/Twitter over 50,000 times (per BBC News), with two documentaries about him already in the works.
Back in December, Chris Rock made a joke about Thompson’s death in his monologue. During his fourth stint as Saturday Night Live (SNL) host, he touched on the internets reaction to Mangione.
“Everybody’s fixated on how good-looking this guy looks,” he said. “If he looked like Jonah Hill, no one would care. They’d already given him the chair already.”
He continued: “But he actually killed a man, a man! A man with a family, a man with kids… I have real condolences for the Healthcare CEO…but you also gotta know, sometimes drug dealers get shot.”
Not for the first time, Moby is speaking out against Donald Trump’s administration with clear frustration.
“The U.S. is collapsing under a deeply corrupt and shockingly ineffective administration,” the longtime electronic musician shared on social media. “These are unbelievably dark times.”
Moby went deeper into his thoughts through a video message, where he explained that people outside the United States keep asking Americans what is actually happening in the country.
“So many of my friends outside the United States keep asking me, ‘what the hell is happening over there?’ And honestly, we don’t even know,” he said. “The country is being controlled by one of the most corrupt, dangerous and incompetent administrations imaginable. Nobody fully understands what’s happening right now. These are very dark times in America.”
Moby joins a growing list of artists publicly criticizing Trump and MAGA politics, including Bruce Springsteen, Jack White, Eminem and Billie Eilish.
Earlier this year, Moby uploaded another statement to social media where he addressed how people should respond following the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis. “The real question isn’t whether people should feel horrified or outraged by what’s happening in the United States,” Moby explained in the Jan. 26 clip. “The question is what are we actually going to do about it?”
The musician and activist also encouraged people to protest, saying demonstrations are a constitutional right and something he believes Trump’s administration is attempting to weaken.
In the end, he urged people to vote regularly, “not only during the upcoming midterms, even though those matter, but also in every special election throughout the year.” He also encouraged supporters to “stop giving money to the scumbag corporations backing Trump and ICE. We all know who they are. Boycott them.”
His newest remarks arrive as the U.S. Justice Department unveils a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund for Trump allies who claim they were unfairly investigated. At the same time, the Strait of Hormuz remains shut down following military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran in late February without approval from Congress, leading to rising gas prices across the globe.
Throughout his independent music career, Moby has earned 10 entries on the Billboard 200 along with two songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and an enormous catalog of sync placements. Overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, he is viewed as one of the defining artists of his era. He scored two No. 1 albums there with Play from 1999 and 18 from 2002, alongside 18 top 40 singles and two nominations for Best International Male at the BRIT Awards.
Check out Moby’s newest social media post below.
