Lady Colin Campbell, a British television personality who has written several books about the royal family, has taken fierce criticism after arguing that child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t technically a pedophile.
Questioned on Tuesday about Prince Andrew’s association with “the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein” during a panel on the recently-launched GB News television station, Campbell – commonly referred to as “Lady C” – responded by attempting to defend the late Epstein against the label.
“Pedophile is a medical term. So is hebephile and so is ephebophile,” Lady C declared insistently, adding that Epstein “was an ephebophile” before explaining the terms to viewers.
“Pedophile is [sexual interest in] prepubescent, hebephile is transitional into adolescence, and post-pubescent is ephebophile. So he was an ephebophile,” she explained, as the three other people on the panel remained silent.
The ‘Big Question’ host Dan Wootton shot back, “But Lady C, you must accept he was a bad man, a dodgy character, not someone who Prince Andrew should have been associated with. So what do you say to those people who think, ‘Actually, Prince Andrew’s behaviour has done far more damage than anything Meghan and Harry could do’?”
Lady C seemed to sidestep the question, proceeding to argue that former US President Bill Clinton “was a far greater friend for far longer” than Prince Andrew and that the United States is attempting to “distract” from Clinton’s association with Epstein by seeking to question the prince.
“Prince Andrew is to a large extent a distraction so that Bill Clinton will actually be kept out of the frame,” she concluded.
Lady Colin Campbell, Epstein, and Prince Andrew became trending topics on Twitter following the incident, with social media users condemning both Campbell and GB News for platforming her remarks.
“At least now we know what the Big Question was: Was Epstein a paedophile or an ephebophile?” joked journalist Etan Smallman.
Epstein – a wealthy socialite who was friends with many figures in the American and British elite – pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a child for prostitution and was charged with child sex trafficking in 2019 after being accused of rape and other underage sex crimes by dozens of women. One lawsuit claimed Epstein trafficked girls as young as 11 on his private island Little Saint James.
He was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial.
Prince Andrew had a long-running friendship with Epstein which resulted in him repeatedly visiting the sex offender’s residences. He was photographed walking with Epstein in New York City’s Central Park in 2010. He was also photographed in 2001 with Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell and alleged victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre – who claims she was trafficked by Epstein to Prince Andrew at the age of 17 after being introduced to Epstein at 16.
Prince Andrew resigned from his public roles last year over the controversy.
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