Epstein didn't kill himself

The central idea of the meme is to include the phrase "Epstein didn't kill himself" in unexpected contexts like a photo caption of painter Bob Ross[1] or at the end of a social media post as a non sequitur.[2][3] The meme has appeared at multiple televised sports games in the form of signs and painted bodies.[4][5][6] Several people have also randomly interjected the phrase at the end of interviews.[1][7] It is used by individuals on all sides of the political spectrum without agreement on the specific details of Epstein's death.[6][8][9]

The Metropolitan Correctional Center where Epstein died.

On August 10, 2019, American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was found unresponsive in his Metropolitan Correctional Center jail cell, where he was awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges. According to the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons official statement, "He was transported to a local hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries and subsequently pronounced dead by hospital staff."[10] The New York City medical examiner ruled Epstein's death a suicide.[11] Epstein's lawyers challenged that conclusion and opened their own investigation.[12] Epstein's brother Mark hired board-certified forensic pathologist Michael Baden to oversee the autopsy. In late October, Baden announced that autopsy evidence was more indicative of homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging.[13] Both the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice's inspector general conducted investigations into the circumstances of his death, and the guards on duty were later charged with conspiracy and record falsification.[14]

Due to violations of normal jail procedures on the night of his death[note 1] ,the suspicious nature of his death and Epstein's claimed knowledge of compromising information about influential people, his death generated doubt about his apparent suicide and speculation that he was murdered.[4][17][18]

The meme on a sticker at a bus stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Epstein didn't kill himself graffiti

At the end of an interview with Jesse Watters on Fox News, former Navy SEAL and founder of the Warrior Dog Foundation Mike Ritland asked if he could give a "PSA". After being told that he could, he stated, "If you see the coverage [about combat dogs] and you decide I want one of these dogs, either buy a fully trained and finished dog from a professional or just don't get one at all. That, and Epstein didn't kill himself."[21][22] Ritland later stated his purpose for suddenly mentioning the phrase was to keep the Jeffrey Epstein story alive.[4][23] According to The Washington Post, the meme gained a large amount of attention in the immediate aftermath of this interview.[19][20]

Arizona Republican Congressman Paul Gosar shared the meme in a series of 23 tweets where the first letter of each tweet spelled out the phrase.[4][24] Australian rapper Matthew Lambert of Hilltop Hoods, after winning the 2019 ARIA Music Award for Best Australian Live Act, included the phrase in his acceptance speech.[25]

Products

Two beer companies, the Michigan-based Rusted Spoke Brewing Co.[33] and the Californian Tactical OPS Brewing,[34] advertised specialty-branded beers in connection to the meme.[21] Rusted Spoke's operations manager told the Detroit Free Press that people just thought the meme was funny.[35] In Switzerland, the Zürich-based company Kaex printed the meme on promotional material for an anti-hangover product.[36]

Swiss anti-hangover company sets up "Epstein didn't kill himself" billboard in city center of Zurich

Computer programmer, businessman, and presidential candidate John McAfee announced the release of an Ethereum-based token named after the meme. He had previously expressed doubts about Epstein's death.[37] Also known as WHACKD,[38] 700 million tokens of the cryptocurrency were released to 8,000 users following its airdrop.[2]

Holiday-theme merchandise, such as Christmas jumpers, which prominently feature the phrase also became available for sale through several online retailers.[28][39] In an interview with Slate, independent merchandisers indicated that the Christmas/Epstein product lines were selling comparatively well and cited the mashup's dark humor for its internet popularity.[39] According to Variety, the Christmas-themed paraphernalia was reportedly outselling Game of Thrones merchandise.[2]

NPR's Scott Simon compared the bait-and-switch aspect of the meme to rickrolling.[8] He also worried that doing a news story about the meme could spread misinformation.[8] Federal prosecutors have tried to discourage the spread of the theory, but the Associated Press reported, "[t]he phrase 'Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself ' has taken on a life of its own—sometimes more as a pop culture catchphrase than an actual belief."[44]

Writer James Poulos cited the advancement of social media and growing populist sentiments for the meme.[3] Commentators have also suggested that growing distrust of government and the elite played a large factor in its popularity as well.[5][9][28] Jeet Heer with The Nation has expressed his worries that this could lead to the meme becoming a useful tool for recruitment for the far-right;[19] but Adam Bulger, in a featured article for BTRtoday, dismissed Heer's concerns and encouraged the Democratic Party to embrace the meme.[45]

In an article for Mel Magazine published shortly before the Fox News interview, Miles Klee wrote that there were numerous factors for the meme's rise online; among these included a "simmering resentment" and a lack of justice for Epstein's victims.[46][47] He further explained that a large attraction of sharing the "Epstein didn't kill himself" meme was it served as a method to keep the Epstein story within the news cycle.[27][47] Author Anna Merlan has instead argued that the meme over time tends to trivialize the concerns of Epstein's victims.[1] However, she mentioned that Jane Doe 15,[note 3] who on November 19, 2019 publicly alleged that Jeffrey Epstein had raped her,[note 4] wore a bracelet featuring the phrase "Epstein didn't kill himself" at a public press conference to possibly indicate her belief in the theory.[1]