Kevin O’Leary dismissed concerns over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal during a tense CNN exchange, saying Americans “don’t give a damn” about the victims and care more about the economy.
The Shark Tank investor appeared on CNN NewsNight Monday night alongside journalist Ahmed Baba and commentator Ana Kasparian. The panel was discussing President Donald Trump’s failure to release unredacted Epstein documents — a promise many of his supporters expected him to keep.
Ahmed Baba pointed to Trump’s appeal to conspiracy-minded voters: “The fundamental deal Trump made with his base was that he was gonna root out this mysterious cabal of elites that were running things. And a key part of this became these Epstein files, right?”
He continued, “Essentially, what he [Trump] is proving is that he actually is one of these corrupt elites himself, right?”
Before Baba could finish, O’Leary interrupted. “Nobody gives a damn about Epstein ’cause he’s still dead! OK? He’s still dead. No one gives a damn,” he said.
O’Leary claimed the issue doesn’t matter to regular Americans:
“The average person at the kitchen table is not worrying about Epstein. Don’t give a damn. They wanna provide for their family and they are.”
Host Abby Phillip pushed back, pointing to polling that showed 83% of Republicans want the Trump administration to release all government information related to Epstein.
O’Leary doubled down: “The average American, awake for 18 hours a day, how many minutes do you think they spend worrying about this stuff? Maybe they were raped, maybe they weren’t. This is not what American families give a damn about.”
Phillip quickly corrected him: “We do know there were victims, so that’s not speculative.”
Still, O’Leary kept going.
“Nobody gives a poop! Nobody gives a poop, poop, poop… Worst case scenario, all this stuff’s true, does that in any way affect the American economy?”
Ana Kasparian responded sharply: “There’s more to life than the American economy. There’s justice and the fact that we might have pedophiles serving in our government right now.”
O’Leary waved it off.
“Oh my goodness! That’s horrible. I’m just saying, what people care about is how to feed their families and how the economy grows,” he said. “This stuff is poop on a stick! Nobody gives– I gotta stop.”
The comments immediately sparked backlash online, with critics accusing O’Leary of dismissing the rape and trafficking of underage girls over money.
Watch the exchange below via CNN.
