A recent list of celebrities tied to disgraced real-estate mogul Jeffrey Epstein is again shining a light on Hollywood’s seemingly blind eye to abuse.
Epstein was an American financer and real estate mogul who was accused of pedophilia, sexual abuse, and solicitation of prostitution in the early 2000s. Epstein surrounded himself with Hollywood’s elite, and often invited them to his island, Little Saint James, presumed to be the main setting of most of his crimes.
First serving time for solicitation of a minor in 2008, Epstein spent 13 months in New York state prison before being released. He was arrested yet again in July of 2019 on federal charges of human sex trafficking; while awaiting his trial he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell from a presumed suicide.
Since his death, Epstein’s list of offenses has only grown as more people have begun to come forward and testify to their experiences, as well as begin to question the circumstances surrounding his final days.
Since Epstein’s death, Hollywood and its elite have shied away from the subject of his crimes, as well as their impact and connections to many big name celebrities. Epstein would famously fly people out to Little Saint James, or his other properties, on his private jet, the “Lolita Express.” Sharing its namesake with the famous Vladimir Nabokov novel that centers around a grown man’s lust and eventual seduction of a young girl, the jet has long been presumed to be the bridge between the public eye and the concealment of Epstein’s crimes, and the list of its passengers has been kept secret for such reasons–until now.
In a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Epstein’s, against Ghislane Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend — she is currently serving 20 years in prison after her 2022 sex trafficking conviction — more than ten celebrities were named as passengers of “Lolita Express.” The list so far includes Donald Trump, Naomi Campbell, Prince Andrew, Michael Jackson, Robert F. Kennedy, Cate Blanchett, Kevin Spacey, Steven Hawking, David Copperfield, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cameron Diaz. The plane, according to the Daily Mail, has been grounded since 2016.
The release of the documents have already sparked controversy among celebrities. Most recently online dispute between New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Kimmel surfaced when Rodgers claimed, on the podcast The Pat McAfee Show, that “there’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who’s really hoping that {the list] doesn’t come out.”
Kimmel quickly responded in the opening monologue of his January 9 weekly nighttime show “.. of course, my name isn’t on it … I don’t know Jeffrey Epstein, I’ve never met Jeffrey Epstein, I’m not on a list, I wasn’t on a plane or an island or anything ever.”
There have been numerous documentaries detailing Epstein’s crimes, including Surviving Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein’s Shadow, and most recently, Filthy Rich.
