Best "Epstein Didn't Kill Himself" Memes

The Epstein memes have been proliferating quickly, possibly because it’s one of the few topics that the right and the left seem to agree on. The Latest Conspiracy Theory Merch Craze Is Jeffrey Epstein Christmas Swag - The morbid slogan “Epstein didn’t kill himself,” driven by the death of the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has become a viral meme, and not just the online kind. Pictures and videos of the phrase showing up as non sequiturs in unexpected contexts, like in potpourri recipes and the fine print on beer cans, have flooded Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and dating apps. This week, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar sent a string of 23 tweets that were ostensibly about impeachment, but which spelled out “Epstein didn’t kill himself” if you combined the first letter of each message. (Gosar has not commented on those tweets but did send out another referencing Area 51.)

Anything that viral—even something so macabre—is also bankable. And so the “Epstein didn’t kill himself” meme is now metastasizing into kitschy merchandise available for sale through online retailers. A search for the term “Epstein” produces more than 750 Jeffrey Epstein­–related results on Etsy, more than 100 results from Amazon’s clothing department, and more than 800 results on eBay. A vast majority of those results are for Epstein-death paraphernalia.

While the meme taps into skepticism around Epstein’s death that emerged almost immediately after it was announced, the specific phrasing apparently arose from the Fox News show Watters’ World. During a segment in early November that was supposed to be about military dogs, former Navy SEAL Mike Ritland abruptly blurted out “Epstein didn’t kill himself.” The absurdity of the exchange was ripe for shitposting, and so Epstein’s death has now become a ubiquitous “haha, but actually though” wisecrack. (Though many aspects of Epstein’s death are still unaccounted for, there is currently no substantial evidence that his death was not a suicide.)

Online vendors have long recognized that there’s money to be made on memes and viral mysteries. As the QAnon conspiracy theory was gaining steam in 2018, hundreds of Q-themed clothing articles and knickknacks became available on Etsy, and more than 1,000 appeared on Amazon. Earlier this year, merchandise tied to the Storm Area 51 viral Facebook event also trended on both sites.

The wave of Epstein-death merchandise is particularly bizarre, however, because a majority of it appears to be holiday- and Christmas-themed. It’s mostly Epstein ornaments and ugly Christmas sweaters that are saturating the market, though some vendors have also tried selling holiday embroidery hoops and mugs. Seasonal spins on the meme include “An elf may sit on a shelf but Epstein didn’t kill himself” and “Dasher & Dancer & Prancer & Epstein & Didn’t & Kill Himself & Donner & Blitzen.”

The vendors I spoke to claim that their Epstein holiday merchandise has been popular. The owner of Panda Ranch Apparel said the Epstein Christmas sweater has been a bestseller on Etsy, beating out sales of the company’s line of Rick and Morty and Game of Thrones sweaters. Kim, owner of TheTwistedCrafts, said that her wooden, hand-engraved Epstein ornament sold out in two days on Etsy, and the owner of MajorMomCo said her cross-stitched “Epstein didn’t kill himself” hoop adorned with mistletoe has been “semi-popular” and is nearly sold out on Etsy as well. Amanda Pottle of This n That Handcrafted Boutique said her products have been doing well on Facebook, while Sarah Cooper of DeliciousAccessories said her Epstein designs have generated buzz on Instagram. Most vendors say that they’ve been selling about three to five Epstein products a day, which they say are pretty good numbers for small-time independent retailers.

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