UPenn socialist professor deletes social media after viral post about CEO murder suspect.

The University of Pennsylvania professor made some of her social media accounts private and removed her TikTok account after gaining virality for celebrating the suspected killer of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson being an Ivy League graduate.

Last week, Luigi Mangione, 26, was accused of murdering a former insurance executive on a New York City sidewalk. He was arrested on Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

In New York, he is being sought for offenses such as Murder in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree.

After Thompson's murder, social media has been filled with posts either praising or criticizing the act as a justifiable response to the frustration people feel over their health insurance claims being rejected.

On Monday, UPenn professor Julia Alekseyeva posted several fawning social media messages about the murder suspect after he was taken into custody as a person of interest.

In a TikTok video, "The Soviette" Alekseyeva plays "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from Les Miserables while smiling.

She wrote, "Have never been prouder to be a professor at the University of Penn3a."

An Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the university, Alekseyeva describes herself as a socialist and an ardent antifascist on her website.

The popularity of the posts increased after they were reposted to X by popular accounts Libs of TikTok and UPenn graduate Eyal Yakoby.

"UPenn professor Julia Alekseyeva praised the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO's assassin and the fact that the murderer attended UPenn. To anyone wondering how America's youth becomes so radical, it is because of the extremist professors."

Alekseyeva allegedly referred to Mangione as "the icon we all need and deserve" in an Instagram story, according to a screenshot shared by Yakoby.

Yakoby also claimed the professor had a history of left-wing activism on campus.

Alekseyeva has made her Instagram account private and taken down her TikTok account under the same name, though her X account still remains public.

The University of Pennsylvania and Alekseyeva did not immediately return requests for comment.

Other professors have also faced criticism for their mocking of Thompson's murder.

On December 4, Anthony Zenkus, a senior lecturer in social work at Columbia University's School of Social Work, posted on X: "Today, we mourn the deaths of the 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs like Brian Thompson can become multimillionaires."

Over 7 million people viewed Zenkus' post and many of them left critical comments. In response to these comments, the professor made it clear that he was not endorsing murder.

""Denying or delaying life-saving medical treatment to someone publicly in broad daylight is never acceptable," he wrote in a follow-up post on December 6."

Certainly, these professors were not the only ones expressing these sentiments on social media.

Taylor Lorenz, a former Washington Post reporter, posted multiple messages indicating an understanding of the killing and suggesting that other health insurance executives should be targeted.

After news of Thompson's death, Lorenz posted on Bluesky, "People wonder why we want executives dead," along with a report about Blue Cross Blue Shield's proposed policy change to no longer cover anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries. The insurance company has since reversed course on this policy change after facing backlash.

Since then, Lorenz has consistently reiterated her stance, going so far as to tell TV host Piers Morgan that she felt "joy" over Thompson's murder.

Planet Chronicle' David Rutz, Kaylee Holland contributed to this report.