The House GOP Judiciary Committee X account has deleted a prank “Rick-Roll” post about the Epstein files after severe backlash from across the political spectrum.
The post came as conservative influencers were given heavily redacted copies of the files as “Phase 1” of the release.
“#BREAKING: EPSTEIN FILES RELEASED,” the now-deleted post read, with a link to Rick Astley’s music video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” on YouTube.
The post received a Community Note warning readers that the post was a prank and led to the music video.
Both Democrats and Republicans slammed the post for making light of a sex trafficking case involving minors.
Rickrolling on a post related to a child sex trafficking ring?
That’s a bold move. https://t.co/hS2WUbYTGz pic.twitter.com/Vmc8FoYmWI
— Havoc Six (@Havoc_Six) February 27, 2025
our government is using a decade old meme to make light of CHILD TRAFFICKINGhttps://t.co/YvbnKwJM6b
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) February 27, 2025
Independent journalist Laura Loomer, a unrelenting supporter of President Donald Trump, wrote, “Fire the person who tweeted this.”
Fire the person who tweeted this. https://t.co/MnmmN94qSL
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) February 28, 2025
Conservative activist and filmmaker Robby Starbuck wrote, “This has to be one of the dumbest mistakes by our side in recent memory. Sex trafficking is not an opportunity to rick roll someone with a music video. I have friends in Congress who are pissed this was sent out. I’m glad they deleted it but this can never happen again.”
This has to be one of the dumbest mistakes by our side in recent memory. Sex trafficking is not an opportunity to rick roll someone with a music video. I have friends in Congress who are pissed this was sent out. I’m glad they deleted it but this can never happen again. pic.twitter.com/MNsIxyKgxI
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) February 28, 2025
An archive of the post is available here.
The “Epstein Files” binder handed out to influencers was a heavily redacted release of information that had primarily already been publicly available online.
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