‘Social Media Is Now The Jury’: Kevin O’Leary Says Health Execs Need To ‘Read The Room,’ Warns Public Has Turned

“Shark Tank” co-star Kevin O’Leary said Wednesday evening on CNN that health care executives need to “read the room” as public appeal has turned against them following the shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Public appeal for Thompson’s alleged assassin, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, has been driven by people online, with many commenting on the Maryland native’s looks and their disdain for the health care system. On “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer,” Blitzer asked O’Leary about a Kaiser Family Foundation survey showing an estimated one in five insured adults dealt with health care claims being denied in 2023, along with other users online sharing similar stories.

“Well, there’s probably valid reasons to deny, but if it’s set up so that you just can’t appeal it in a way that is cost-effective because you can’t afford to hire a lawyer, particularly at the expense of surgery, it doesn’t matter. At this point, social media is now the jury, and it doesn’t like what it sees. So if you’re an executive in interim management at UnitedHealthCorp or any other health company, you’ve got to read the room,” O’Leary said.

“You’ve got to read the room and realize right now that the public is turning against you. They are your customers, and they don’t like it,” O’Leary added. “Now this poor man lost his life, horrific, but if anything good is going to come of this, it’s going to be policy change because you’ve basically got people lighting up their torches just like in the Frankenstein story and going to the castle, and they’re going to burn it down.”