Luigi Mangione

The internet is ablaze with speculation after eagle-eyed shoppers spotted something shocking on Shein's website: a male model who looks uncannily like accused killer Luigi Mangione.

The resemblance is so close that many are now asking whether the fast-fashion giant unwittingly, or recklessly, used the likeness of a man currently facing the death penalty in the United States.

The Viral Discovery

The controversy began when a shopper browsing Shein's spring collection stumbled across a patterned button-down shirt. The model's face, critics argued, bore an alarming resemblance to Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year.

Screenshots of the listing quickly spread across TikTok and X (formerly Twitter), sparking disbelief and outrage. Users demanded to know how the face of an accused murderer could end up in a commercial catalogue.

Ironically, the shirt in question has already sold out in most sizes, fuelling speculation and making the scandal spread even faster.

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The Case Against Luigi Mangione

Mangione, now in federal custody, is at the centre of one of the most closely watched criminal trials in the US. Prosecutors claim he shot Thompson in cold blood and are pursuing the death penalty, arguing that he sought to 'normalise' violence and may have inspired copycat attacks, including the recent deadly assault at NFL headquarters.

His defence lawyers insist the government's filings are vague and lack sufficient detail to justify capital punishment.

Yet courtroom arguments have been overshadowed by the bizarre Shein discovery, which suddenly linked Mangione's face, or a face that looks eerily like his, to online fast fashion.

Shein, AI, And The Ethics Of Faces

The biggest question now is whether Shein really used Mangione's image, or whether artificial intelligence is blurring reality once again. With AI tools capable of producing photorealistic models at scale, critics warn that brands are cutting corners with image rights and ignoring the ethical nightmare that comes with it.

'The fact that your face can be used, without consent, to promote products you've never touched thanks to generative AI is terrifying,' one viral post read. 'Add in that this is the image of an incarcerated man who has already lost all autonomy, and it is beyond disturbing.'

Shein has yet to issue a response. But the uproar has already triggered calls for tighter regulation of AI-generated content and stricter rules around how companies use likenesses in advertising.

A PR Crisis In The Making

Shein is no stranger to scandal, from accusations of exploitative labour to plagiarism of independent designers. But this could be its most surreal crisis yet: the alleged use of an accused killer's likeness in its catalogue.

As one furious X user summed it up: "KLL AI before it kills common sense."*

Whether the model is really Mangione, an altered image, or an AI-generated composite, the internet is not waiting for answers. The scandal has already gone viral, adding another storm for Shein's embattled PR team to fight.

Originally published on IBTimes UK