Trump threatens to sue Trevor Noah over Epstein joke at Grammys

US President Donald Trump has threatened to sue comedian Trevor Noah after he joked about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at the Grammy Awards.

Hosting the event, Noah said: “Song of the Year – that is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.”

Trump is known to have been an associate of Epstein for years, but says he had no knowledge of his crimes and that they fell out in about 2004. There are no suggestions he ever visited Epstein’s private island and he has not been accused of any crime by Epstein’s victims. The US justice department has said allegations about him are unfounded and false.

In 2020, a spokesperson for Clinton said the former president had “never been” to Epstein’s island, Little St James. Clinton has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Trump responded to Noah’s joke by saying he would be “sending my lawyers to sue”.

Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!

“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, not even by the Fake News Media.

“Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast.”

He added: “Get ready Noah, I’m going to have some fun with you!”

Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, more than a decade after he was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

He had purchased his private island in 1998. Multiple survivors have alleged that they were trafficked there and abused.

Trump has engaged in legal action with multiple 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 a Florida court accusing the BBC of defamation and of violating a trade practices law over the editing of a Panorama programme.

Noah is a South African-born comedian who hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central in the US for seven years.