Epsteined

About

Epsteined is internet slang meaning to get murdered in prison by powerful people in order to prevent the spread of information the victim may know about crimes committed by other powerful people, usually involving a staged suicide. It is inspired by conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial for his sex trafficking case, though the circumstances surrounding his death were highly suspicious, leading some to theorize he was murdered by powerful political figures and his murder was covered up. In the years since, "Epsteined" has been applied to powerful figures who have died in prison or are seen as being likely to suffer a similar fate as Epstein.

Origin

On August 10th, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell while awaiting trial for his sex trafficking case. His death was ruled a suicide, though the mysterious circumstances surrounding the case led to conspiracies that Epstein was murdered by powerful operators in order to make sure the information he knew about other powerful people did not come out in his trial.

One of the earliest known uses of "Epsteined" to mean "murdered by powerful forces" was posted on August 19th, 2019, by Twitter / X user @nickmelons,^[1] who joked that the music website Pitchfork would "Epstein" him for criticizing the site, gaining just 10 likes in five years.

Spread

Over the following years, multiple celebrity deaths and arrests have been tied to the death of Jeffrey Epstein. For example, on July 14th, 2020, Twitter user @WillBlackWriter^[2] suggested that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's partner in the sex trafficking scheme, could "get Epsteined" while awaiting her trial, gaining over 60 retweets and 220 likes in four years.

In July 2022, Rolling Stone^[3] covered speculation that Ivana Trump was "Epsteined" due to knowledge of her ex-husband Donald Trump's crimes.

In September 2024, following the arrest of rapper Diddy, several posters suggested he could get "Epsteined" due to his connections to powerful figures in the music industry.

A headline about Diddy being on "suicide watch" on September 20th, 2024, inspired some Twitter users to suggest he could get "Epsteined" (example by @SquirrelBait00^[4] shown below) as the news spread online.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References