He keeps his name unchanged.
An Australian named Jeffrey Epstein is aiming for the mayoral position in a town in Massachusetts.
Epstein, who prefers to be called “Jeff,” claims he isn’t troubled by the obvious connections to a well-known deceased sex trafficker sharing his name.
“Other people are deceased Americans, while I’m a living Australian,” he shared while seeking office in Framingham, a suburb of Boston. He mentioned this to a reporter on Tuesday.
“But certainly, there’s the terrible legacy of other men’s actions,” the ambitious candidate remarked.
Jeffrey Epstein took his own life in Manhattan custody in 2019, and officials have stated it’s impossible to change his name and escape associations with such notorious figures.
“I cherish my name and take pride in my heritage,” he expressed.
Born on September 11, the Australian claims he distances himself from his namesake by pursuing a PhD in theoretical physics, having left Cooper Union before finishing his degree.
He’s not alone in grappling with the fallout from sharing a title with infamous sex traffickers.
New York State Senator Harvey Epstein found himself in a similar situation when people drew parallels between his name and that of both Jeffrey Epstein and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.
“It was quite unexpected,” Harvey Epstein remarked the day after a show aired that poked fun at his name. “Imagine watching SNL and seeing a parody featuring you.”
“A name is just that. It is what it is,” he added, noting the shared connections to both Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein.
