Did Tony Hawk’s wedding ceremony happen on Jeffrey Epstein’s island? Skateboarding legend responds | World Information – The Occasions of India – Worldwide Dispatch

FILE – Tony Hawk attends the X-Video games, Sunday, July 23, 2023, on the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, Calif. (Photograph by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

Tony Hawk has issued an in depth public rebuttal after on-line hypothesis claimed considered one of his weddings occurred on a personal Caribbean island as soon as owned by Jeffrey Epstein, following the discharge of a brand new tranche of US Justice Division paperwork. The skateboarding icon, 57, addressed the claims instantly on Instagram after social media customers seized on a third-party tip contained within the information and tried to attach it to his private life. Hawk mentioned the allegation was “nonsense”, laid out a verified timeline of his 4 marriages, and careworn that he had by no means met Epstein nor visited his island.

How the declare emerged and what the paperwork truly say

The confusion stems from an FBI tip referenced within the newly launched Epstein-related information. The doc summarises a name to the FBI’s tip line, logged by a Menace Consumption Examiner on the Nationwide Menace Operations Heart, by which an unnamed girl alleged she had been exploited as a minor and trafficked to a number of areas, together with Little Saint James. In the middle of recounting her allegations, the caller claimed she had been on the island “when Prince Edward was there and when Tony Hawk obtained married on the island”. The doc doesn’t current corroboration for that declare and makes clear it displays the caller’s account. Being named within the information doesn’t point out wrongdoing, and plenty of entries are unverified suggestions or third-party statements. Hawk’s identify seems thrice throughout the doc launch. Two of these references relate to not journey or private associations, however to e mail discussions in regards to the 2010 online game Tony Hawk: Shred. The remaining reference is the unverified allegation above, which Hawk says is demonstrably false.

Hawk’s response: timelines, areas and the supply of the mix-up

Hawk responded through an Instagram Story, writing: “I apologise in the event that they don’t match a story of nonsense,” earlier than itemizing the areas of every of his weddings:

None of these areas overlap with Epstein’s former property within the US Virgin Islands. He mentioned the hypothesis doubtless arose from his third wedding ceremony in 2006, which occurred on Tavarua Island in Fiji. Pictures from that ceremony have been later licensed to Getty Photographs, and the photographer credited on these photographs is called Mark Epstein.

Hawk defined that his 2006 wedding ceremony to Lhotse Merriam occurred in Fiji, not on Epstein’s island (Mark Epstein/Getty Photographs)

Hawk addressed that time explicitly: “One of many company in 2006 shot pictures of the Fiji ceremony and licensed them to Getty Photographs. His identify is (coincidentally) Mark Epstein.” He added that the photographer is “an achieved motion sports activities photographer from Wyoming” who’s “under no circumstances associated” to Jeffrey Epstein.

Photograph Credit score: @tonyhawk/Instagram

For context, Jeffrey Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, is a New York–primarily based property developer; the shared surname seems to have brought about the confusion. “That is all simply verifiable info,” Hawk wrote. “Information are usually not fungible.” He apologised to the photographer for being “pulled into the misinformation vortex.” Hawk, a father of 4 and a family identify properly past skateboarding, concluded by reiterating that he had by no means visited Epstein’s island and had no private affiliation with the late financier, underscoring that the declare circulating on-line collapses below fundamental fact-checking.