Merch sellers cash in on UnitedHealthcare CEO killing

On e-commerce platforms like Etsy, TikTok Shop, eBay and Redbubble, sellers are hawking merchandise featuring designs inspired by the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. 

NBC News reviewed over 100 item listings for T-shirts, hoodies, stickers, mugs and even fake bullets and Christmas ornaments that bear the words “Deny,” “Defend” and “Depose” after bullet shell casings were found with those words on them at the scene of the crime (the word “Defend” was later clarified by the police to be “Delay”).

Some of the merchandise features drawings or images of the shooter taken from the initial video of the shooting. A suspect, Luigi Mangione, was charged with murder Monday. There has been significant online fanfare surrounding the shooting, with many people making light of the killing or outright celebrating it. The targeting of Thompson and the shooter’s message have been widely interpreted as a commentary on the state of the health insurance industry, with many people sharing stories of coverage denial, mistreatment and financial hardship they’ve faced within the system. 

Thompson was a father to two sons. In a statement, his family called him an “incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives” and said he “will be greatly missed.”

The T-shirts and other merchandise join the swell of sentiment around the shooting. Many of the designs appear to be sold through print on demand, a business model that produces items only after orders are received, so sellers don’t have to keep inventory on hand. The freewheeling print-on-demand industry has continued to boom despite issues like rampant copyright infringement. 

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Online sellers flooded with merchandise of UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect

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While many of the products just feature the messages left on the bullet shell casings, other designs more explicitly glorify or encourage violence. Some of the designs feature guillotines, guns and target symbols. 

Etsy, Redbubble, TikTok Shop and eBay all prohibit selling items that glorify violence. In a statement, an eBay representative said that “eBay policies do not prohibit the sale of items with the phrase ‘Deny. Defend. Depose,’ however, items that glorify or incite violence, including those that celebrate the recent murder of UHC CEO Brian Thompson, are prohibited.” Etsy, Redbubble and TikTok didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

While the expanding market for merchandise related to the shooting appears to largely be for-profit, with prices ranging from $2.99 to over $70 for a blanket, one seller told NBC News he plans to donate any proceeds he makes to a charity that assists people with paying their medical bills.

The graphic designer behind one version of the merch, Michael, spoke on the condition that his last name be withheld because he feared professional repercussions. In a TikTok video with almost 2 million views, Michael referred to a nickname some people online have started to use to refer to the shooter, “The Adjuster.” 

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“If we’re going to give him a badass superhero name, I think he needs a badass superhero logo to go with it,” Michael said in the video. He flipped and repurposed the UnitedHealthcare logo to feature an “A” and the words “Deny,” “Defend” and “Depose.” Michael is selling the design on two different T-shirts and two hoodies on Etsy, and he said he got more than two dozen orders in less than 24 hours, making it his fastest-selling design. 

“I don’t personally believe in violence, but I have a problem with their entire business making money off people suffering and dying,” Michael said about the health insurance industry and his reasons for making the design. “I think health care should be free; I think a lot of people feel that way. Even though it’s not the way we’d go about it, we’re tired about not seeing anything get done.”

Michael said that it didn’t surprise him that the print-on-demand industry was capitalizing on what he considers an anti-capitalist movement but that he didn’t want to personally profit from someone’s death. He said he was inspired to create the design after he saw a flood of content on TikTok over the weekend that framed the shooter as a hero and an outlaw, including original folk songs about the shooting. Pictures of stickers and other artwork that said “Deny,” “Defend” and “Depose” at craft fairs over the weekend have also gained traction online.

“I always wondered why people root for guys robbing trains, and then you realize how corrupt banks are, and then you’re like, ‘I kind of get it,’” Michael said. “It says something about society that we can relate to the killer more than the billionaire and his family.”