For better or worse, Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has become an overnight folk hero.
And his legions of supporters are taking it super seriously—so much so that they are on the warpath against the Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald's where the suspect was nabbed.
Mangione was picked up by law enforcement at the McDonald's after a customer and employee recognized him while he was eating breakfast and called authorities.
And for many online, that meant retribution was in order, in the form of review-bombing the McDonald's on Yelp and Google.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
The negative reviews to all McDonald's locations in Altoona quickly poured in, since people weren't sure which location was the one where Mangione's time on the lam came to a close.
Yelp
Many gave 1-star reviews to the restaurants because they were "full of snitches," while others focused on a "rat problem"—presumably of the tattle-tale type, not the rodent type.
Yelp
Yelp and Google both soon began removing negative reviews from the McDonald's locations' pages, with Yelp saying it was working "to investigate whether the content...reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events.”
Yelp
Pretty sure we can answer that one for you, Yelp.
Of course, tons of screenshots of the reviews are flying around the internet for posterity. And many of them are undeniably hilarious.
@anthonyzenkus/X
One particularly ridiculous review reads:
"This McDonald's is officially the worst place on Earth."
"I walked in for a McChicken. And what did I get? A front-row seat to a rat's Olympic floor routine."
Another reported that the food was as expected, but there was another major problem:
"The staff do have an issue with minding their own d*mn business tho."
Of course on social media, the irreverent—or reprehensible, depending on your view—laughter about the Mangione story has intensified as the reviews have rolled in.
Eating at McDonald's always has its consequences, but we can probably safely assume they've never been quite like this.
