Fact Check: Corey Feldman 'Exposes' Jeffrey Epstein's Island's Celebrity Visitor List?
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Claim:
An online video accurately reported that actor Corey Feldman had released a list of celebrities who were involved in criminal acts on one of Jeffrey Epstein's islands.
Rating:
On Sept. 17, 2023, the purported celebrity gossip YouTube channel Drama Bay published a video that claimed actor Corey Feldman had released a list that detailed celebrities who had purportedly been involved in criminal sex acts on one or more islands formerly owned by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019. An autopsy ruled it was a suicide by hanging. His death set off a wave of new conspiracy theories.
Speaking of conspiracy theories and rumors, the clip's title read, "Corey Feldman EXPOSES List Of Celebrities Involved In Jeffrey Epstein Island."
The video was viewed just over 7,000 times on YouTube. However, it was a repost of the same video on TikTok that really took off, earning more than 140,000 views in just the first eight hours after being uploaded.
This clip's narration, scripting, sequencing and thumbnail image all looked to have been a product of artificial intelligence (AI), video-creation tools.
The thumbnail image that was meant to entice viewers to watch the video showed pictures of prominent celebrities, including Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift.
This thumbnail image was misleading, to say the very least.
The video (archived) began as follows:
It's an exposé like no other, and it's bound to send shockwaves through the world of the rich and famous. We're talking about Corey Feldman, a name synonymous with standing up against the monsters in Hollywood. And now, the rumors are swirling that he's about to expose a chilling list of celebrities connected to none other than Jeffrey Epstein and his famous island.
Now, if you've been living under a rock and you don't know, Jeffrey Edward Epstein was an American sex offender whose crimes shook the very foundations of the entertainment industry. But Corey Feldman has been trying to expose these monsters for years.
However, seven minutes into the video, all the AI-generated narrator ended up saying was that there were rumors on social media about the matter. The narration also conceded that there was not believed to be evidence of the aforementioned list of celebrities that purportedly had visited one of Epstein's islands.
Recent rumors circulating on TikTok and Instagram have hinted at Corey Feldman possibly revealing a list of celebrities linked to the Jeffrey Epstein island case. It's crucial to clarify that there is currently no solid evidence to confirm the existence of such a list.
The truth of this matter was that the title of the video was false. The clip never provided evidence that Feldman had released a list of celebrities who had visited Epstein's formerly owned islands of Great St. James and Little St. James, which are located in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Further, the video itself made no mention of Hanks, Winfrey, or Swift, despite including all three of the celebrities in the thumbnail image. (Their three names also did not appear in Epstein's "black book" that was featured in the past by Gawker, New York Magazine, and CNBC.)
The video simply provided information about Feldman's past statements regarding allegations of sexual abuse that he says took place with both him and the late actor Corey Haim when they were young stars in the movie industry.
As we've seen with many of these AI-generated videos across multiple celebrity gossip YouTube channels, this clip contained a misleading video title with a mix of old and unrelated news, false claims and other emotionally charged moments that likely were meant to elicit angry responses in the comments. Such videos often end up with hundreds or thousands of comments from users who indicated that they had believed some of the misleading information presented in the clips.
We previously reported about a number of other misleading and false videos just like this one. On the subject of the Maui wildfires, videos were created that featured rumors about actor Jada Pinkett Smith, actor Jason Momoa, entertainment icon Oprah Winfrey and actor The Rock, actor Keanu Reeves, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, country star Dolly Parton and others.
Sources:
Bryant, Nick. "Here Is P***phile Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's Little Black Book." Gawker, 23 Jan. 2015, https://www.gawker.com/.
Chan, Tim. "Corey Feldman Names Alleged Abusers in Long-Awaited Film." Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2020, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/corey-feldman-documentary-names-revelations-964789/.
Ibrahim, Nur. "Was Jeffrey Epstein Spotted 'Alive and Well' in New Mexico?" Snopes, 15 Dec. 2020, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/epstein-alive-new-mexico/.
"Investor Buys Caribbean Isles Once Owned by Jeffrey Epstein." The Associated Press, 4 May 2023, https://apnews.com/article/us-virgin-islands-epstein-sale-resort-88180584189fe6f8689f4be7a78ef565.
Kiefer, Halle. "Corey Feldman Is Crowdfunding a Film to Expose Child Sexual Abuse in Hollywood." Vulture, 25 Oct. 2017, https://www.vulture.com/2017/10/corey-feldman-crowdfunds-film-to-expose-child-sexual-abuse.html.
Klepper, David, and Amanda Seitz. "Epstein Suicide Sparks Fresh Round of Conspiracy Theories." The Associated Press, 11 Aug. 2019, https://apnews.com/general-news-united-states-government-362e6ccf61014d7fbaeb35e1b5d793a9.
Mangan, Dan. "The Big Names in Jeffrey Epstein's 'Black Book': Trumps, Clintons, Prince Andrew, Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, More on Accused Sex Trafficker's Phone List." CNBC, 22 July 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/22/jeffrey-epsteins-black-book-trump-clintons-prince-andrew.html.
Sisak, Michael R., et al. "Medical Examiner Rules Epstein Death a Suicide by Hanging." The Associated Press, 17 Aug. 2019, https://apnews.com/article/a947e0d85d31496eb5bd9ff4994c9718.
Starke, Lauren. "On the Cover: Jeffrey Epstein's 'Little Black Book.'" New York Press Room, 22 July 2019, https://nymag.com/press/2019/07/new-york-magazine-jeffrey-epsteins-little-black-book.html.
