About

Epstein Didn't Kill Himself is an image macro series in which various facts are listed and are abruptly followed by variations of the phrase "Epstein didn't kill himself," referencing the conspiracy theories regarding the death of Jeffrey Epstein.

Origin

On October 2nd, 2019, iFunny user MrFate77^[1] posted a parody of Some Say Charmander Is Best using Playstation and Xbox with the final panel reading "But deep down we all know Epstein didn't kill himself," with the post being the earliest currently known instance of the meme.

Spread

Over the following month, "Epstein Didn't Kill Himself" became a popular bait and switch punchline in image macros that otherwise had nothing to do with the Epstein conspiracy. Other popular examples include a meme about Candy Corn posted to /r/TIHI by Lumi-is-a-casual^[2] on October 21st, 2019, gaining over 1,000 points (shown below, left). Instagram user memetides^[3] posted an example about salad dressings, gaining over 1,500 likes (shown below, right). On October 26th, Redditor sophaea^[4] posted a question about the surge in "Epstein Didn't Kill Himself" memes to /r/OutOfTheLoop, gaining over 90 points.

The meme saw considerable coverage in the weeks since, with longform analyses published by Mashable,^[10] National Review,^[11] GQ,^[12] and others. John McAfee tweeted a theory that perhaps Epstein never existed (shown below).

Navy Seal Fox News Interview

On November 2nd, 2019, during a Fox News segment about military dogs, a former US Navy SEAL Mike Ritland unexpectedly said "Epstein didn't kill himself" in a manner similar to the meme format. On the same day, Twitter user @kbq225 posted a phone-recorded video of the interview, with the tweet receiving over 13,800 retweets and 31,000 likes and the video gaining over 11.9 million views on Twitter in two days (shown below).^[5]

If you see the coverage 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… and Epstein didn't kill himself.

In the following days, multiple news outlets reported on the interviews, including articles by Newsweek^[6] and The Independent.^[7]

Paul Gosar's Tweeted Code

On November 13th, 2019, during the first day of impeachment hearings against Donald Trump, Republican congressman Paul Gosar offered 23 tweets offering his thoughts on the proceedings. The first letters of each tweet spell out "E-P-S-T-E-I-N D-I-D-N-T K-I-L-L H-I-M-S-E-L-F." Twitter user @mpersandy posted a video of himself scrolling through the relevant tweets (shown below).

The story was reported by Inquisitr^[8] and Gizmodo.^[9] The latter story written by Tom McKay pulled a similar trick, making it so the first letters of each paragraph in the story spell out "W-E-A-R-E-S-O-F-U-C-K-E-D."

Christmas Lights Display

On December 20th, NJ.com^[13] featured a story about a New Jersey Christmas Lights Display that featured the meme (shown below). The lights, which appear on the house of Kevin Gibson, read "These lights didn't hang themselves. Neither did Epstein."

Gibson told NJ.com, "I just do it for fun… just trying to change things up is all."

"This year I’ve got mostly great feedback. Here and there somebody said it isn’t appropriate for the holidays but you always have one."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References