Last month, police arrested Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier and longtime serial child molester. This past weekend, Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell. He had apparently died by suicide. Epstein was awaiting federal child sex trafficking charges, and he was on suicide watch after another attempt three weeks earlier. And because Epstein had connections to a great many powerful people, including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, there are already naturally a ton of conspiracy theories around Epstein's death. At least one of them has been advanced by a surprising source.
Right now, on Twitter, early-'10s indie-pop hitmakers Foster The People are advancing a bunch of Epstein-related conspiracy theories. Whoever controls the band's Twitter account -- presumably frontman Mark Foster, last seen on this site apologizing to Imagine Dragons -- tweeted on Saturday night that Epstein was really alive, and that a dead body double had been placed in his cell. This particular theory is that Epstein is somewhere getting cosmetic surgery to hide his identity.
more than ever artists need to speak up, because they’re not getting paid by sponsors or told how to spin a story by their bosses. rupert murdoch isn’t controlling their narrative. support your artists. support real journalism. fact check everything. do your own research.
— Foster The People (@fosterthepeople) August 12, 2019
The idea of Foster The People considering themselves to be sources of "real journalism" is more than a little ridiculous. But this whole Epstein situation is so shady and skeezy that I, for one, honestly cannot blame anyone whose brain is broken.
