The McDonald’s restaurant where police arrested Luigi Mangione, who is suspected of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been flooded with negative reviews.
Mangione, 26, was arrested on Monday at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s restaurant after a worker noticed that he resembled publicly released surveillance images of the suspected shooter. At the time of his arrest, police allege that he was carrying fake identification and a silencer-equipped “ghost gun” that may have been used in the New York City homicide.
Later on Monday, Google removed a series of derogatory one-star reviews about the restaurant, with many including puns about “rats” in the kitchen, after the cashier “ratted out” Mangione. They are an example of “review bombing,” where a large number of accounts post negative reviews to harm the popularity of a business, often after a widely reported event.
Gene J. Puskar and Uncredited/ASSOCIATED PRESS and Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
One review, since deleted, said: “This location has rats in the kitchen that will make you sick and your insurance isn’t going to cover it.”
Another wrote: “Do not stop here if you are an American Hero. They will sell you out.”
In a statement, a Google spokesperson said: “These reviews violate our policies and have been removed,” Reuters reported.
On Yelp, another restaurant reviewing website, the restaurant was similarly hit with negative reviews.
“PLACE IS FILLED WITH RATS!! I saw one big rat and will never go back again!!!!!!!!!!!!” one user wrote on Monday, with 48 other users saying the review was “helpful.”
Another user wrote: “Home of the bootlicking snitches. Food is terrible, the vibe is off, absolutely trash.”
Yelp has temporarily disabled comments on the business due to unusual activity, and suspicion that people are simply giving their “views on the news,” the website said in an alert.
“While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we’ve temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page.”
Newsweek has contacted Yelp, Google and McDonald’s via email for comment.
The murder of the insurance executive sparked widespread frustration among Americans, many of whom have experienced health insurance claims being denied and rising insurance premiums.
Mike Fahey, chief executive and founder of Fahey Communications, a PR firm specializing in political campaigns, previously told Newsweek: “Brian Thompson’s death sparked outrage and frustration among many Americans over the U.S. health insurance industry. For many, he was the face of an unfair and exploitative system.
“This was particularly true for those who believe that Thompson and his kind exist to deny health care and lifesaving medical procedures to those whose lives hang in the balance. In the aftermath of his death, some social media users have used Thompson’s passing to discuss this most divisive of American subjects.”
