"The person that it was done to did a lot first to the entire country," he told his mother, who was furious at him for pushing the comparison, and for playing Rihanna's Man Down in the car.
A TikTok creator is going viral for looking like Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old charged with the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The online star GoobiGubbi -- real name Jake -- has amassed close to 11 million views on one video in which he dressed up like initial photos of then-unidentified Mangione wearing a green jacket and hooded sweater.
After Jake gets into the the car, his mother -- who he often gets a rise out of in his videos -- demands he takes off the jacket.
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View Story"Jake, Jake, go back, change, uh uh, no green jacket, no hood, this is serious now," his mom told him. She then revealed "a lot of people have been "DMing me, messaging me" because her son looks like the alleged murderer.
"You have to go back and change, this is not funny, this is not a funny situation," she added, clearly disapproving of her son courting the comparisons.
As his mom continues to attempt to tell him off, Jake jokes with her, while continuing to smile just like Mangione in another early photo of him without his mask on.
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View StoryJake then defended Mangione's alleged actions.
"Let him live," he said, after his mother reminded him that Mangione's charge is a "federal crime."
"The person that it was done to did a lot first to the entire country," he said, before his mother agreed, "I'm not negating that, I agree with you."
She, however, continued to insist he change his clothes -- refusing to drive him anywhere.
Just a couple days after the original video was published, he shared a similar post of him again wearing a green jacket and hoodie.
"No, I'm not doing this again," she said, stone-faced. "The sun rose this morning, it's a new day. No, I'm not doing this. Groundhog's Day is not for a while, right? No. New day, start over, begin again."
He then asked if she wanted to hear some music, before playing Rihanna's "Man Down" -- a song about a man being shot. "I didn't mean to end his life, I know it wasn't right," he began to sing, before breaking into laughter and cutting the video.
Comments flooded the videos with praises for the comedian for his humor ... and also for building "reasonable doubt" to help Mangione.
"Dude is this Luigi or not I'm sooo confused ðŸ˜," one wrote. "He honestly looks more like the pictures than the guy they say did it. 😅😅," another added.
"Please try to go to the courthouse when Luigi has court. help build reasonable doubt," another wrote.
Last week, prior to Mangione being identified as a suspect, Jake felt the need to share a "formal statement" -- clearly satire -- that he was not the person in the images being distributed to try and locate the shooter.
"To people on the hunt, it is not me, I am not he, he is not me, we need to reposition our targets, realign the flanks, change position, because I am not that, we have never been in the same room we are much less not the same person," he told his 400k followers.
Mangione was arrested on Monday in Pennsylvania as a person of interest in the death of Thompson, who was shot on a busy midtown Manhattan sidewalk in broad daylight last week. He was later officially charged with second-degree murder, possession of a loaded firearm (two counts), possession of a forged instrument, and criminal possession of a weapon.
He was picked up at a McDonald's location near Altoona, PA after an employee thought he looked suspicious and called police. Photos released by the Pennsylvania State Police show him inside the fast food restaurant, with a mask on his face, before removing it to eat what appears to be a hash brown