The merchification of Luigi
George Soros buys Hot Ones, a Gen Z A.I. therapist, Jay-Z’s PR strategy, and a Twitter co-founder's new social app
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The merchification of Luigi
Within hours of Luigi Mangione’s arrest, merchandise with his face on it began cropping up across ecommerce platforms. Shirts, cups, and Christmas ornaments flooded platforms like Etsy and TikTok Shop. (Etsy responded by scrambling to try to remove the merchandise).
Meanwhile, TheGoodShirts.com is offering a $29 T-shirt featuring a collage of Mangione’s photos, framed by bullets engraved with the words “Deny, Defend, Depose,” and one emblazoned with “Daddy’s little CEO killer.” Amazon offered wide array of T-shirts, hoodies, and stickers emblazoned Mangione’s image, along with ones reading “Free Luigi” before they were pulled down. There’s even merchandise available for your pets, like a “FREE LUIGI” dog bandana.
While many media outlets continue to pearl-clutch, pressuring merchandise platforms to remove anything even remotely related to the shooter, I find the whole thing a bit silly. These are the same media pundits who declare that America doesn’t “glorify murderers and violence.” I’d really like to know what America they’re living in, because stanning murderers is an all-time American pastime.
The entire true crime industry is built around transforming killers into pop culture phenomena. High profile murderers like Jeffrey Dahmer receive their own Netflix mini dramas. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, has a rabid online fandom, Charles Manson’s killings have been depicted repeatedly in TV and film, and John Hinckley Jr. has been given a redemption arc online.
You can buy merchandise across the internet that “glorifies” all of these people.
Luigi school walkouts
A TikTok purporting to show a school walkout with 1,400 students in solidarity with Luigi has been going viral. The TikTok has been reshared across Twitter and Instagram gaining even more traction. But right now all signs point to this being fake.
For one, if 1,400 teenagers do anything, you’re going to see a lot more content than a single TikTok video, especially if they’re engaging in a viral stunt related to a hot-button topic.
There are also zero local news reports about this, and, most importantly, the entire “school walkout” thing is a very well known internet meme. People jokingly create school walkout flyers in support of absurd causes or viral figures.
What I’m reading
How One Content Creator Covered the Historic Transgender Care Arguments at the Supreme Court
Erin Reed’s reporting focuses on her community and leveraging platforms like Substack and TikTok. - Passionfruit (I wrote this!!)
Congress doesn’t trust us with free speech. TikTok proves it.
TikTok’s case is a stunning swing toward paternalism. - WaPo
The Pain Refugees
The forgotten victims of America’s opioid crisis. -Harpers (this piece is a must read)
He Mocked the Rich on TikTok for Fun. Now He Can Get $30,000 Per Post.
Aris Yeager’s “European Kid” videos have been an unexpected hit. Wealthy people and luxury brands have noticed. - NY Times
Those Who Make Peaceful Revolution Impossible
"People don’t cheer for chaos when they feel like justice is possible. But right now, what options do they have? The Supreme Court is corrupt, voting feels useless, and the people in power are funded by the very corporations they’re supposed to regulate. Of course, Mangione gets turned into a meme hero—it’s not him they love; it’s the idea of someone finally fighting back" - Letters from God
An AI companion suggested he kill his parents. Now his mom is suing.
A new Texas lawsuit against Character.ai, alleging its chatbots poisoned a son against his family, is part of a push to increase oversight of AI companions. - WaPo
Luigi Mangione’s Full Story Isn’t Online
His social media presence was carefully managed — in keeping with a new era on the internet. - NY Mag
More fun stuff
George Soros bought the YouTube show “Hot Ones” from BuzzFeed.
The National Labor Relations Board has classified Love is Blind contestants as employees, in a case against the Netflix hit that could have ripple effects across the reality TV industry.
The Yelp page for the McDonald's where Luigi Mangione was arrested is being overrun by A.I. rat art.
An A.I. therapist that speaks Gen Z.
Frog Club, the NYC spin-off from the L.A. based people behind Horses, has closed.
Podcast viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices. “They've been tuning into podcasts the way that people used to watch late-night talk shows.”
Wanted’ posters of other healthcare CEOs are cropping up around Manhattan.
The Onion might not be able to buy Infowars after all :(
Beehiiv’s founder Tyler Denk argues that Substack is the new Amazon.
The Rizzler did a Perfectly Imperfect interview, he recommends pizza, drawing, Xbox, and Fortnite. He also dropped a music video with toy company MGA where he raps about what he wants for Christmas:
Victoria Tran, the comms director for Among Us, has been posting through it (we love her!)
Twitter co-founder Ev Williams launched a new travel-based social app called Mozi.
A Facebook group where Boomers post their old hiking photos from the 1970s.
The Oscars will be streamed live on Hulu this year.
Kylie Kelce (wife of Jason Kelce, Travis Kelce’s brother) has surpassed Joe Rogan for the #1 Podcast on the Spotify after just 1 episode of her new show “Not Gonna Lie.”
Molly McPherson expertly breaks down Jay-Z’s PR strategy in the wake of sexual assault allegations.
Inside the quite elaborate, unauthorized effort to archive the interactive TV shows Netflix deleted off it service.
PornHub published their yearly wrap up with insights about how Americans are consuming porn. Some highlights:
Searches for porn rose by 72 percent this year
Searches for "coworker" increased 92 percent, and "workplace fantasy" 57 percent.
The phrase "hawk tuah" resulted in 10 million searches on Pornhub, and searches for "spit on dick" increased 233 percent.
AI slop is already invading Oregon’s local journalism.
Three years ago, one of the world's largest bitcoin miners convinced a town to double its energy footprint for a massive data center. Then, the miner went bankrupt, pivoted to AI, and just signed an even bigger power deal with the town for a new supercomputer.
Luigi Mangione’s fellow prisoners yelled “Luigi’s conditions suck” and “Free Luigi” from their cells in Pennsylvania during an interview.
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Luigi ushered in a cultural reset, and guys like Piers are shitting themselves with fear. Now it's open season on rich assholes in America.
Good on you for shutting him down when you got a chance. It made my blood boil watching that clip. He's such a dick. Stay strong.
Piers made a lurker into a sub. Go Piers!