Pop star Dua Lipa has criticised the discourse around the Epstein files, saying the language used shifts focus away from victims.
Celebrated pop star Dua Lipa has called out what she sees as a lack of consideration for the victims named in the Epstein files, many of whom were underage.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
On the latest episode of her Service 95 book club podcast, Lipa brought up the subject of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while speaking to her guest, author Roxane Gay.
She said: “The way that the crimes have been reported, and the language that’s been used, has been doing such a disservice to all the victims.”
“I keep thinking about all the stories that talk about the underage girls and the sex parties, rather than writing about the victims that were children who were trafficked,” she continued. “It’s putting everything under some kind of veil to protect - I don’t know who, [maybe] the reader - or trying to mask what is happening.”
She noted that descriptions leaning toward scandal or gossip-heavy angles risk overshadowing that the case involves systemic abuse and trafficking of minors.
This relates to the fact that much of the conversation surrounding the release of certain files relating to Epstein’s crimes has been focused on the famous names who were associated with him and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell and not on the victims themselves.
Watch Lipa discuss the Epstein files on Service 95 below:
Dua Lipa has never shied away from speaking about social and political issues.
She has previously shared her support for the Palestinian people and spoken about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Burning children alive can never be justified,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories two years ago. “The whole world is mobilising to stop the Israeli genocide. Please show your solidarity with Gaza. #AllEyesOnRafah.”
At the time, the singer said she was “willing” to “be met with a backlash” over her stance.
Last year, she was one of the 300 celebrities calling on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “end the UK’s complicity” in Gaza, signing an open letter stating: “You can’t call it ‘intolerable’, yet do nothing.”
