When UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in New York on Dec. 4, it kicked off a national conversation about how health insurance companies regularly deny patients life-saving treatments. Many people even celebrated the alleged shooter, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who awaits extradition to New York from where he was arrested last week in Pennsylvania. But UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, appears to be using a peculiar tactic to fight back against anyone who celebrates Mangione online.
Internet users have created tributes to Mangione, including everything from songs to t-shirts. But one pro-Mangione design isn’t available on the internet anymore because UnitedHealth Group submitted a copyright complaint against it under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The painting has been removed from Teepublic, which allows artists to sell their own designs on merchandise like t-shirts and sweatshirts. But it’s not clear how UnitedHealth could claim they have rights to something that doesn’t involve any of its intellectual property.
The design, which you can see below, doesn’t include any UnitedHealth logos or anything that would conceivably be interpreted as a trademark or image owned by the healthcare giant. It’s a watercolor painting of Mangione, clearly inspired by one of the security camera images released by police. Mangione is encircled in a heart but, again, there’s nothing that appears to have anything to do with UnitedHealth.
The creator of this image told Gizmodo it’s “pretty absurd” because she doesn’t understand how UnitedHealthcare would have any copyright claim on it. Rachel Kenaston, a 36-year-old filmmaker and comedian, said she was inspired by what she calls the the solidarity shown by the working class after the shooting
“I live in Brooklyn but grew up in Vienna, West Virginia so have experienced firsthand how the working class is struggling in rural and urban areas,” Kenaston told Gizmodo via email. “Luigi is a folk hero to me, I was raised learning about the Mine Wars and how heroes risk their lives to fight against corporate exploitation.”
The Mine Wars is a reference to the labor actions of the 1910s in West Virginia, where coal miners demanded better pay and working conditions. Police and mine owners tried to break the workers through violence, and the workers fought back.
Kenaston said she didn’t expect any kind of intellectual property claim to be made and told Gizmodo she was filing a counterclaim to the copyright notice.
“For my design, I chose to watercolor Luigi and use pretty pastel colors to appeal to the feminine sensibility,” Kenaston said. “I honestly expected the design to be pulled for condoning violence or something, but found it really wild that UnitedHealth Group Inc is claiming to have any intellectual rights over a picture of Luigi.”
Kenaston has her own struggles with the U.S. healthcare system, which is notorious for being the most expensive in the world while delivering much poorer health outcomes than other wealthy nations.
“I had a very serious bone tumor on my ribs a few years ago. I’ve had 5 chest reconstructive surgeries at Memorial Sloan Kettering and without the Affordable Care Act and expanded Medicaid in NY I would be unable to pay for any of the treatment,” Kenaston told Gizmodo. “I’m missing three of my ribs and have chronic pain now so I’ve unfortunately had a lot of experience navigating the healthcare industry and empathized with Luigi’s struggle with back pain.”
Kenaston explained how her upbringing in a town polluted by a large company has also shaped her perspective on these issues.
“In my hometown, DuPont is responsible for dumping C8 in our water supply and causing thousands of cancer deaths and other health issues,” said Kenaston. “It is extremely frustrating to know that companies are responsible for so many deaths and the only justice Americans can expect is a negligible fine.”
Kenaston has other designs available online, including watercolors of cats and dogs along with more political art like a Donald Trump-theme “Dick-tator” design. In that case, Trump’s body appears to be a scrotum made out of a potato.
GoFundMe has shut down at least two fundraisers for Mangione, as public interest in his case has become widespread. And a woman was arrested and charged last week after allegedly saying the words “delay, deny, depose” to her health insurance company which had denied her coverage. And there are already multiple documentaries about Mangione reportedly in the works, including one from Alex Gibney, director of Taxi to the Dark Side, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2008.
UnitedHealth Group didn’t respond to questions emailed on Monday about how the company could possibly claim a copyright violation had occurred. Gizmodo will update this post if we hear back.
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