this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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Likely lots of people who had contact with Epstein did nothing wrong, at least not on that level.
He was collecting powerful people, in science, business, government, anything. One way to do that is to offer access to other important people. The ability to say to someone "I can connect you with Stephen Hawking" is currency.
The pedophilia ring and sex trafficking is the exact same thing -- just a way to appeal to certain people.
I think it's more interesting to talk about who the fuck gave Epstein a private island in one of the most stupidly expensive spits of sand on the entire planet. Likely the same people who killed him.
It's not like Hawking and Epstein traded a few emails talking about science, or had a one off meeting. It appears they had a fair amount of exchanges over a long period of time.
Epstein was a vile human in the worst kind of way and I see no evidence that Hawking was blind to this fact. Half the people on this app wouldn't willingly associate with someone of a different political party than them, but to defend a man who willingly spent time with a convicted sex trafficker? The fact that Hawking was paralyzed doesn't absolve him from willingly enabling (and potentially partaking in) child abuse and sex trafficking.
I know one person IRL who was a frequenter of Little St John Island, aka Epstein Island. Wealthy man who made that trip regularly. He was not particularly attractive but he was wealthy. This is the place old wealthy men would go to get sexual satisfaction when nobody else will give it to them.