Jeffrey Epstein has been the subject of viral internet memes since 2019, with a major resurgence in late 2025, though critics have compared them to dark jokes about 9/11 and the Holocaust for minimizing victims' suffering. The earliest viral meme, "Epstein didn't kill himself," emerged in September 2019, suggesting he was murdered to cover up his crimes. The late-2025 surge was fueled by the release of over 300 gigabytes of "Epstein files," which sparked memes about unexpected details like a 2017 email containing a Five Nights at Freddy's animation and a message referencing "Trump blowing Bubba" (suspected to be Bill Clinton). The files also fueled conspiracy theories that Epstein was still alive, including a Fortnite account (littlestjeff1) active in 2023, which was later refuted by official Fortnite accounts, and an unconfirmed claim about a Minecraft channel. Many memes also took on an Israel- or Jewish-themed angle due to Epstein's ethnicity and ties to figures like Ehud Barak, while the overall trend has been criticized for turning tragedy into ironic entertainment.