Dua Lipa is calling out what she sees as a lack of consideration for the victims named in the Epstein files, many of whom were underage.
On the latest episode of the pop star’s Service 95 book club podcast posted Sunday (March 15), Lipa brought up the subject of late billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while speaking to her guest, author Roxane Gay. “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,” Lipa began.
“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.”
Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial in prison in 2019, having been arrested on charges of running a sex-trafficking operation involving minors — to which he pleaded not guilty. He had previously spent 13 months in prison for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
To Lipa’s point, much of the conversation surrounding the Jan. 30 release of millions of files relating to Epstein’s crimes has been focused on the famous names who were associated with him and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell — who is currently serving 20 years behind bars for her part in the operation — and not on the victims themselves. President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Prince Andrew were all named in the documents, though all have denied any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein.
In the music world, Casey Wasserman recently sold his talent agency — which represented artists such as Chappell Roan, Orville Peck and Gigi Perez, all of whom have left the company in light of the news — after his 2003 emails with Maxwell were made public in the Epstein files. In a statement addressing the controversy, the music mogul said, “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light. I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Lipa has never shied away from speaking about difficult political issues. For years, she’s spoken out about Palestinian people and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
She last dropped new music in 2024, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with Radical Optimism.
Watch Lipa discuss the Epstein files on Service 95 below.
