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Socialist UPenn professor hides social media after celebratory post about CEO murder suspect goes viral

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A University of Pennsylvania professor made some of her social media accounts private and appeared to take down her TikTok account after going viral for appearing to celebrate that the suspected killer of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson was a graduate of the Ivy League school.

Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of executing the former insurance executive on a New York City sidewalk last week. He was taken into custody on Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

He is wanted in New York for charges including 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. 

Since Thompson's murder last week, social media has been flooded with posts celebrating or mocking Thompson's killing as justified because of anger people feel about their health insurance claims being denied.

Luigi Mangione pictured in a Pennsylvania mugshot after his arrest in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

After Mangione was taken into custody as a person of interest on Monday, UPenn professor Julia Alekseyeva appeared to share several social media posts fawning over the murder suspect.

In one TikTok, Alekseyeva, who posts under the name, "The Soviette," smiles while playing the song, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from the famous musical Les Miserables.

The text on screen reads, "Have never been prouder to be a professor at the University of Pennsylvania," she wrote, replacing the "E" in Pennsylvania with the number 3. 

A Benjamin Franklin sculpture at the University of Pennsylvania is seen in 2011. (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The posts picked up steam after they were reposted to X by popular account Libs of TikTok and UPenn graduate Eyal Yakoby.

"DISGUSTING," Yakoby wrote in response. "UPenn professor Julia Alekseyeva celebrates the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO's assassin and that the murderer attended UPenn. To anyone wondering how America's youth becomes so radical to murder someone, it is because of the extremist professors."

CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione shouts as officers restrain him as he arrives for his extradition hearing in  Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. (David Dee Delgado for Fox News Digital)

Yakoby also shared an alleged screenshot from Alekseyeva's Instagram stories where she called Mangione, "the icon we all need and deserve," in response to a magazine article purporting to know the murder suspect's sexuality.

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

Since her post was shared to X by others, Alekseyeva has made her Instagram account private and appears to have taken down her TikTok account under the same name, though her X account still remains public.

"Much concern was raised by recent social media posts attributed to Assistant Professor Julia Alekseyeva," a University of Pennsylvania spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Her comments regarding the shooting of Brian Thompson in New York City were antithetical to the values of both the School of Arts and Sciences and the University of Pennsylvania, and they were not condoned by the School or the University. Upon reflection, Assistant Professor Alekseyeva has concurred that the comments were insensitive and inappropriate and has retracted them. We welcome this correction and regret any dismay or concern this may have caused."

"Today, we mourn the death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gunned down.... wait, I'm sorry - 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," Anthony Zenkus, a senior lecturer in social work at Columbia University's School of Social Work, posted to X on December 4.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning last week. (Photo Credit: Businesswire | NYPD Crimestoppers)

Zenkus' post racked up over 7 million views and was flooded with comments criticizing him. In reply to these comments, the professor clarified that he wasn't justifying murder.

"Murdering someone publicly in cold blood in broad daylight is never okay," he wrote in a follow-up post on December 6. "Best we kill them by denying or delaying their claim for life-saving medical treatment so their families can watch them wither away till they die slowly and in severe and excruciating pain."

These professors certainly weren't the only ones on social media expressing these sentiments.

Piers Morgan unloaded on Taylor Lorenz on Monday for claiming she felt joy over UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's murder. (Screenshot/PiersMorganUncensored)

Fox News' David Rutz, Kaylee Holland contributed to this report.