After dozens of previously sealed court documents related to financier Jeffrey Epstein were made public on Wednesday, social media users began spreading false accusations about major public figures whose names appeared in the release — and some who hadn’t been named at all.
Two people singled out in viral false claims containing images made to look like snippets from court documents were late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018. In both cases, the images were used in an effort to tie the men to illicit activities involving Epstein.
