Epstein Emails Spotlight Zayn Malik, Stevie Wonder Among Celebrities in Political Controversy

A peculiar document has emerged from the Epstein files — not a damning record of criminal conspiracy, but rather a 2014 article about celebrities with pro-Palestinian views, forwarded to Jeffrey Epstein apparently for his attention or approval.

On its surface, it reads like innocuous cultural commentary: a roundup of famous faces accused of 'making false accusations' about Israel and 'justifying terrorism.' But the fact that this list found its way to one of the world's most notorious convicted paedophiles raises uncomfortable questions about surveillance, opposition research, and the blurred lines between journalism and intelligence-gathering.

Zayn Malik appears prominently. In July 2014, when the 21-year-old One Direction member posted '#FreePalestine' on Twitter amid Gaza's summer war, the article dutifully noted it — capturing both the hashtag's reach (190,000 retweets, nearly 200,000 favourites) and the viciousness of the response.

Death threats followed immediately. 'Please let me kill you,' one account replied. Malik didn't delete. The article, circulated to Epstein, recorded his refusal to back down, alongside details of his brand endorsements and commercial relationships.

Emma Thompson's crime was signing a letter. In March 2012, the Oscar-winning actress joined 34 others — including Mark Rylance, Mike Leigh and David Calder — in calling for the Globe Theatre to rescind its invitation to Israel's Habima theatre. Their letter accused Habima of having 'a shameful record of involvement with illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory.' The article preserved this objection, attaching it to Epstein's files as if it were a lead to be followed up.

Epstein Files Expose Surveillance Of Anti-Israel Activists

Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem were catalogued for signing an open letter denouncing 'Israel's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza as "genocide"'. Stevie Wonder was shamed for withdrawing from a 2012 Friends of the Israel Defense Forces gala in Los Angeles.

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd made the list for his support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and his controversial imagery at a 2013 concert — a giant pig-shaped balloon emblazoned with a Star of David, which detractors accused of antisemitism.​

The article wasn't investigative reporting in any traditional sense. It was a curator's list — compiled by JNS News and presumably sent to Epstein as a reference document, or perhaps as a curiosity.

The implication, unstated but unmissable, is that these celebrities warranted monitoring. Not because they'd broken laws, but because they'd voiced political opposition to Israeli policy. Their commercial entanglements — Malik's brand deals, Thompson's film releases — were dutifully noted alongside their activism, as if to suggest that reputational pressure could be applied, that corporate America might distance itself.​

What cannot be ignored is the historical moment when this article circulated. It was July 2014, nine years before Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, before the subsequent Gaza war that would trigger a new wave of pro-Palestinian activism and hostile backlash. At that earlier moment, the article presented pro-Palestinian speech as aberration — celebrities foolishly wading into controversy, damaging their brands, inviting hate.

Epstein Files Raise Questions About Who Tracks Activists

Precisely why this article was forwarded to Epstein remains unclear. Was he building dossiers? Considering whether to engage in his own reputational warfare against activist celebrities? Tracking political figures for leverage? The Epstein files rarely volunteer such context. What they do reveal is that a man convicted of sex trafficking was receiving detailed intelligence about activists' public statements, brand associations and online reach.​

For Malik particularly, the document represents a dystopian record: a 21-year-old's act of conscience — posting three words in solidarity with Palestinians — captured, catalogued and circulated to someone who trafficked in exploitation. He received death threats for it; the article preserved those threats as data. Thompson faced boycott calls from Zionist organisations, her recent film's commercial prospects threatened by her activism. That too made it into the file.

The celebrities named were never accused of involvement with Epstein or of any wrongdoing by him. They appear merely as subjects of interest — activists whose public statements, brand partnerships, and vulnerability to backlash warranted documentation. That documentation now sits in publicly released government files, available to anyone seeking to understand which celebrities Epstein tracked and why.

It raises an uncomfortable possibility: that there exists an entire architecture of surveillance monitoring dissent, particularly dissent regarding Israel-Palestine, orchestrated through networks that might include financiers, intelligence, and media. Epstein himself is gone, but the files he left behind suggest he was one node in a much larger apparatus.