US President Donald Trump has threatened to sue comedian Trevor Noah following a joke he made about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein while hosting the Grammy Awards.
During the ceremony, Noah joked that the Song of the Year award was one every artist wanted almost as much as Trump wanted Greenland, adding that with Epstein’s island gone, Trump “needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.”
Trump, who was known to have associated with Epstein in the past, has consistently denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes. He has said he had no knowledge of the offences and that their relationship ended around 2004. There is no evidence that Trump ever visited Epstein’s private island, and he has not been accused of any crime by Epstein’s victims. The US Department of Justice has described allegations against him as unfounded and false.
Responding to the joke, Trump said he would be “sending my lawyers to sue.” In a post on Truth Social, he accused Noah of making a false and defamatory statement, insisting that he had never been to Epstein’s island or anywhere near it.
Trump said that until Noah’s comment, he had never been accused of visiting the island, not even by what he described as the “fake news media.” He also criticised the comedian personally, telling him to get his facts straight and warning that legal action was coming.
Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had bought his private island, Little St James, in 1998, and multiple survivors have alleged they were trafficked there and abused.
Former US President Bill Clinton has also denied ever visiting the island, and he has not been accused of wrongdoing. In 2020, a spokesperson said Clinton had “never been” to Epstein’s property.
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 in Florida accusing the BBC of defamation and breaching trade practices laws over the editing of a Panorama programme.
Trevor Noah is a South African-born comedian who hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central in the United States for seven years.
