Say, wasn't this the same comedian who got reduced to tears over the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidential term? The same late-night host who wept over the death of Cecil the Lion in 2015, as Brandon Morse recalls?

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel took a decidedly more humorous turn on the subject of a back-shooting coward who murdered a health-insurance CEO. His producers absolutely adore Luigi Mangione, Kimmel tells a laughing audience, and why not? He's so dreamy, or something ... as long as you see him coming, I suppose:

Kimmel describes how his producers are in love with the UnitedHealth murderer: “I would visit him in prison! And bake him cookies, maybe. Perhaps more …“

“I’m about to be a jailhouse bride” pic.twitter.com/lCW2jgDHp0

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 11, 2024

As Brandon suggests, let's compare the tone of this light-hearted review of the premeditated murder of Brian Thompson and how Kimmel framed the killing of a lion in Africa nine years ago:

The big question is, why are you shooting a lion in the first place? I mean, I'm honestly curious to know why a human being would feel compelled to do that. How is that fun? Is it that difficult for you to get an erection that you need to kill things?

Great point. Is it so difficult for your producers to get a date that they fantasize about sex with a back-shooting coward who kills defenseless human beings, Jimmy? Why not ask that question? Why aren't you getting choked up for Thompson's family, or asking your audience to help support those victims of a hunter who didn't have the balls to face his prey?

Unfortunately, this Luigi love fest isn't isolated to late-night comics. River Page at the Free Press notes that the Left had already begun celebrating Mangione in absentia as an oppressed-class hero, only to discover that he comes from wealth and privilege. That's when their admiration for the gutless assassin began drifting below the belt:

In the immediate aftermath of Brian Thompson’s murder, the then-unnamed killer was celebrated online, as Kat Rosenfield reported last week. Now that his identity has been revealed, this dark schadenfreude has entered a new phase. People can no longer imagine that the shooter is a working-class hero avenging a sick child, or a communist revolutionary. And so the hero worship has taken a hornier tone. The accused shooter might not be the leftist people wanted, but he’s toned, tanned, and ready to kill a shared enemy—a swarthy, photogenic Chad willing to do the sort of grisly things blue-haired leftists can only post about.

This category—up to and including the blue hair—includes Julia Alekseyeva, a professor at Mangione’s alma mater. She posted a TikTok saying she’s “never been prouder to be a professor at the University of Pennsylvania,” as “Do You Hear the People Sing?,” the revolutionary anthem from the musical Les Misérables, played in the background.

Just one of the very weird responses to the weirdly normal-seeming man in custody suspected of murdering a CEO.

These are the same people who insist that their opponents are fascists who want to destroy democracy and "norms" during elections. Nor is it the first time that the Left has cast murderers as sexual icons. Remember how Rolling Stone presented Dzokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two Boston Marathon bombers? As a sexy beast, baby:

How long before Rolling Stone comes out with a cover like Tsarnaev's? pic.twitter.com/qpwN2h3m7k

— vbspurs (@vbspurs) December 5, 2024

I bet Kimmel's producers got weak in the knees over Tsarnaev, too. Leftists have a weird affinity for terrorists and murderers, as long as they target the right people. 

In fairness, not everyone on the Left has lost their Luigi-lovin' minds. Senate Democrat John Fetterman got asked about Mangionemania yesterday, and he exploded:

“He’s the asshole that’s going to die in prison. Congratulations if you want to celebrate that. A sewer is going to sewer. That's what social media is about this. And I don't know why the media wants to turn that into a story, just with these trolls saying these kinds of things anonymously like that. I don't know why that's news. Remember, he has two children that are going to grow up without their father… It's vile. And if you've gunned someone down that you don't happen to agree with their views or the business that they're in, hey, you know, I'm next, they're next, he's next, she's next.”

Indeed. Kimmel's part of that sewer, and so are his producers, and so are the Protection Racket Media of which they are part.