About

Deny, Defend, Depose refer to words reportedly written on the shell casings of the bullets used to assassinate UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in early December 2024. It was assumed that the unknown gunman left a message, concerning the title of Jay M. Feinman's 2010 book Delay, Deny, Defend, an expose on insurance companies about why they don't pay claims and what people can do about it. The discovery increased speculation about the assassin's motive, indicating that he, or the party that hired him, purportedly wanted to send a message about the controversial privatized healthcare system in the U.S. Usage of "Deny, Defend, Depose" in viral memes and posts on social media sites like Twitter / X added to the memetic buzz surrounding the CEO's death in which people were unsympathetic and largely celebrated the healthcare executive's killing in New York City.

Origin

On the morning of December 4th, 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside of a Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan by an unknown shooter.^[1]

Later on December 4th, it was reported by ABC News that the words "deny," "defend" and "depose" were discovered on the shell casings of the bullets found at the scene.^[2]

The news was notably spread to social media by the X^[3] account @BNONews on December 4th, 2024, gaining over 31,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Jay M. Feinman's Delay, Deny, Defend

A few minutes later, early in the morning on December 5th, 2024, X^[4] user @DasSchinkenbrot quote tweeted the abovementioned post, attaching the cover art of Jay M. Feinman's 2010 book Delay, Deny, Defend, an expose on insurance companies about why they don't pay claims and what people can do about it.^[5][7] The user captioned it, "Looks like our boy really did find something he can do about it," gaining over 11,000 likes in a few hours (shown below).

Spread

News of the words etched on the shell casings spread on social in the following days, amassing viral posts, memes and reactions. For instance, on December 5th, 2024, X^[6] user @jdub3o quote tweeted @BNONews' post, writing, "'Deny the claim, Defend the lawsuit, Depose the patient,'" receiving over 150,000 likes in a few hours (shown below).

Also on December 5th, X^[8] user @kinematografi tweeted about the words written on the shell casings, portraying shock and asking, "Is this real life?" The tweet received over 50,000 likes in a few hours (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References