The streets of New York are a little less dangerous for C-suite healthcare executives now that Luigi Mangione is in a Pennsylvania jail. But our offices were rocked by such a late entry into our 106th annual Punk of the Year award.
We had our choice locked and loaded. It was going to be our buddy Dirty Doug, he had a hell of a year. He ate 30 cigarettes on a dare, and didn’t throw a single one up. He bit a cop who was trying to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly, and he claims he hasn’t showered since February. This man deserved the award. Then everything changed. On December 4th a masked gunman shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and then fled the scene on a bike. We knew at that moment we had a new contender for Punk of the Year.
It turns out that man was Luigi Mangione. You might be saying, “But he’s a rich kid from a life of privilege, he can’t be punk.” Well, tell that to every crust punk you have ever met. The biggest difference between Mangione and your average crust punk is that Mangione actually took action. He didn’t just tell his dad to fuck off and then go panhandle downtown, anyone can do that. No, our Punk of the Year did something that might actually foment change for once.
The bar for Punk of the Year has been raised to an impossible level, we only hope next year’s recipient is as deserving.