Martin Shkreli, the former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO who notoriously jacked up the price of an antiparasitic drug used to treat infections in HIV patients, appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday to field questions about his dubious business practices.
Instead of answering, he smirked and squirmed while repeatedly pleading the Fifth in an apparent bid to reinforce his status as the most hated man in America.
"On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question," Shkreli said, over and over again.
Some lawmakers were not amused by his demeanor.
"It's not funny, Mr. Shkreli," said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "People are dying and they're getting sicker and sicker."
Shkreli was eventually dismissed from the hearing, at which point he promptly fled to the wrong black car.
In a matter of months, Shkreli has cemented his position as the nation's favorite source of schadenfreude. In fact, he's pretty much embraced his role with the gusto of a heel in professional wrestling. And it's not hard to see why people's appetite for his misfortune isn't satiated by his arrest for securities fraud or his loss of $27 million.
Most of this is his own doing: the former CEO made millions trying to screw over sick people, he's flirted with teenage girls online, and he bought the only copy of a new Wu-Tang Clan album and subsequently threatened to destroy it.
He even manages to make people sympathize with Congress:
But beyond his detestable behavior, Shkreli simply looks like someone you want to punch.
Now, this does not mean you should actually punch him. Violence is wrong. But just look at these pictures and tell me how you feel.
