US President Donald Trump has threatened legal action against comedian Trevor Noah following a joke made at the Grammy Awards linking Trump to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
According to the BBC, Noah, who was hosting the awards ceremony, joked during the show that the Song of the Year Grammy was something every artist wanted “almost as much as Trump wants Greenland,” adding that since “Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.”
Trump, who was known to have been an associate of Epstein in the past, has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities. He maintains that he had no knowledge of the crimes and that the two fell out around 2004. There is no evidence suggesting Trump ever visited Epstein’s private island, and he has not been accused of any wrongdoing by Epstein’s victims. The US Department of Justice has previously dismissed allegations involving Trump as unfounded.
Responding to Noah’s remarks on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he would be “sending my lawyers to sue.”
“Noah said, incorrectly about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. Wrong,” Trump wrote.
“I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there.”
Trump went on to describe Noah as a “total loser” and warned that he would be taking legal action.
The BBC reports that Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had bought his private island, Little St James, in 1998, where multiple survivors have alleged they were abused.
In 2020, a spokesperson for former US President Bill Clinton said Clinton had never visited Epstein’s island. Clinton has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Trump has pursued legal action against several media organisations in recent years, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. In December, he filed a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against the BBC in Florida, accusing the broadcaster of defamation over the editing of a Panorama programme.
Trevor Noah is a South African-born comedian and former host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, which he presented for seven years.
