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Jeffrey Epstein’s apparent racism is one of the least-examined aspects of his persona, even though one could argue it offers important insight about the ways the late financier amassed power and influence.
In December, I wrote about reporting from the Byline Times, a British outlet, on Epstein’s emails and financial entanglements with various eugenicists and promoters of racist pseudoscience — among them, people who have advocated for allowing climate disasters to wipe out parts of the human race, as well as the idea of Black people being naturally inferior to white people.
Until then, I suppose I had been among others who thought of Epstein as an uber-rich and well-connected sex offender — and not much else.
But he was also a nexus for white supremacist ideologues. And Friday’s release of Epstein files, which comes as the Trump administration withholds much of what they are legally required to release, leaves no doubt about Epstein’s bigotry. And the documents reveal how intense his obsession with white supremacy truly was.
Journalist and researcher Hannah Gais highlighted this in a post on X, in which she summarized an email Epstein apparently sent to public intellectual Noam Chomsky in which he shared links to articles about race and IQ that were published on the website of a white nationalist podcast.
“Translation for normal people: Epstein was sending around links to the white nationalist podcast The Right Stuff, which played an active role in ‘Unite the Right,’” Gais wrote, referring to the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. “In February 2016. Before they made much national news.”
And then there’s this email, highlighted by journalist Akilah Hughes, showing an apparent donation from Epstein to white supremacist commentator Jean-François Gariépy, an alt-right YouTuber who has frequently given a platform to white nationalists.
Jeffrey Epstein funded a white supremacist’s YouTube channel. Can’t make it up. pic.twitter.com/513sFuE830
“Jeffrey had defects like we all do, but he was a good man, an ambitious man, and a visionary in many ways,” Gariépy wrote on X. “More people like him could improve the world. He died for our sins.”
Collectively, these emails suggest an infatuation with white supremacy — and Epstein’s interest in using his power and wealth to help spread his racist views. And it certainly seems this infatuation may have been on par with his sexual obsessions. And that’s something to consider when you think of the wide array of powerful people he associated with over the years.
