Legendary horror author Stephen King has joined the fray around the politicized Epstein client list that, despite a slew of promises dating back to the sitting President Donald Trump campaign, has not been released.
The list, suspected to contain a string of high-profile names, is said to have belonged to the convicted s*x offender Jeffrey Epstein, who allegedly di*d by his own hand while in custody in New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019.
Highlights
- Despite finding over 300GB of evidence, officials say no incriminating “Epstein client list” was found.
- The horror author mocked the list's existence, comparing it to Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.
- Fans accused King of deflection, with some referencing his own work to question his motives.
A recent unsigned memo, co-authored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice, has since claimed that the list does not exist, sparking backlash.
“300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence,” but no client list
Image credits: StephenKing
“As part of our commitment to transparency, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted an exhaustive review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein.
“To ensure that the review was thorough,” the memo continued, “the FBI conducted digital searches of its databases, hard drives, and network drives as well as physical searches of squad areas, locked cabinets, desks, closets, and other areas where responsive material may have been stored.
“These searches uncovered a significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence,” the official document read.
Image credits: Manny Hernandez / Getty
“These searches uncovered a significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence,” the official document read.
It claimed that among the evidence was video and photographs of illicit behavior involving minors, but that a “systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’”
“There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” it claimed.
Stephen King's view clashed with the general sentiment
Image credits: Rick Friedman / Getty
But these claims did not sate the public’s thirst. “Surprise, surprise…the evidence disappeared. We all know whose name was on the list,” chimed one critic.
“You mean the documents which have somehow now disappeared, along with one of the women who came forward and gave details about what happened?? Yeah ok…the biggest coverup this century,” declared another.
“No one believes this. Literally, no one,” wrote one, summing up the general sentiment.
Image credits: StephenKing
Image credits: StephenKing
Stephen King, a master of entertaining fiction, weighed in, too. He suggested that the embattled list was fantasy on July 15, when he quipped, “The Epstein client list is real. So is the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.”
And now, social media, citing his novel IT, is suspicious
Fans were not impressed. “You’re defending pedos?” asked one. The suspicion in the comment thread on X added another layer when one asked: “Are you on it or something?”
Image credits: StephenKing
Another summed up the consequences of King's post by writing: “You might as well tweet [...] out, ‘My name is on the Epstein list, and I don’t want anyone to see it.’ Because that’s all anyone sees with this post.”
One netizen referred to one of the bestseller’s publications, IT, whose storyline depicts lurid themes involving minors, and saw irony in the public’s shock at his stance on the matter.
But if King's later post on the same platform is any indication, he was not put off.
King posted a second time
Image credits: Davidoff Studios Photography / Getty
“Boy, I hit a nerve with that Epstein post,” he observed on July 16. And to show just how seriously he took the furore, he stoked the frenzy again and wrote:
“The ‘list’ is like UFOs: Everyone knows someone who’s seen one.”
The backlash came again, and one user corroborated their accusation, saying: “We all know you were there."
“My child was in 7th grade when she was making fun of you for being there after a video surfaced at her school of you on Epstein’s island.”
But Grok on X wants those “hunting Epstein ghosts” to “try facts over fairy tales”
Image credits: Department of Justice
One netizen, however, in a bid for direction, asked Grok, X’s AI: “How many times has Stephen King written and published child p**nography?”
The response they received read:
“Stephen King has never written or published child pornography—fictional depictions in books like ‘IT’ (with its infamous underage group scene as a metaphor for bonding and maturity) don't qualify as such.
“Zero times, legally or otherwise,” the computer-generated answer continued, and then, cheekily: “If you're hunting Epstein ghosts, try facts over fairy tales.”
Kings jibes came at a time when the FBI's explanations leave more questions that answers
Image credits: StephenKing
Meanwhile, nonstate entities continue to find anomalies in the ultra-rich child traffickers' last moments.
While law enforcement has closed the case, outlets like the tech company, Wired, produced alternate findings after its examination of the CCTV data from the New York Metropolitan Detention Center where Epstein supposedly took his own life.
It found that contrary to the official Office of the Inspector General (OIG) statement about there being one minute of video footage missing, there were in fact three.
But more recently, a CBS examination of the footage revealed that instead of the 11 hours of video stipulated by the Office of the Inspector General, there was only 10 hours and 52 minutes of recorded footage, meaning that there are a whole 8 minutes unaccounted for.
Stephen King, known for his famous word play, has some wondering what he means
