The pop star Chappell Roan has announced she has left her talent agency after emails between its founder and Ghislaine Maxwell were featured in the Epstein files.
The Grammy-winning artist shared a statement on social media announcing her departure from Wasserman, led by the sports and entertainment executive Casey Wasserman.
“As of today, I am no longer represented by Wasserman,” Roan, best known for hits including Good Luck, Babe! and Pink Pony Club, wrote on Instagram. “I hold my teams to the highest standards and have a duty to protect them as well. No artist, agent or employee should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that conflict so deeply with our own moral values.”
Documents recently released by the US justice department included flirtatious email exchanges between Wasserman, who was married at the time, and Maxwell from 2003. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal charges that she conspired with Epstein to sexually abuse teenage girls.
Wasserman, who is in charge of organising the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, has apologised for communicating with Maxwell. “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell,” he said, adding that it occurred “long before her horrific crimes came to light”.
Roan did not mention Epstein or the Epstein files in her statement on Instagram announcing her departure from Wasserman.
The 27-year-old said she refused to “passively stand by” and that artists “deserve representation that aligns with their values and supports their safety and dignity”.
The decision to leave Wasserman “reflects my belief that meaningful change in our industry requires accountability and leadership that earns trust”, she concluded.
Wasserman has said he “never had a personal or business relationship” with Epstein but that he did take part in a “humanitarian trip” on his plane. “I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them,” he said.
Wasserman has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing by any of Epstein’s victims, but since the revelations he has been facing mounting pressure to remove himself from his talent agency and to step down from the Olympics organising committee.
Roan, who has more than 35 million monthly listeners on Spotify, is the most high-profile artist to cut ties with Wasserman. Her announcement came after other bands it represented released statements distancing themselves from the agency.
The indie rock band Wednesday said they were “aghast” to see Wasserman feature in the Epstein files and they hoped he would step down “for the sake of his staff”.
The Dropkick Murphys posted on social media: “The namesake of the agency is in the Epstein files so … we GONE.”
The rock band Beach Bunny said they were “hugely disappointed and disgusted” that Wasserman “had involvement with Ghislaine Maxwell”.
Others who shared statements about Wasserman included Best Coast’s frontwoman, Bethany Cosentino, who wrote “people in power can’t keep skating by”, and the experimental indie rock duo Water From Your Eyes, who said they had “no interest in being affiliated with Casey Wasserman”.
Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells said the duo would not leave the company, citing the financial impact it would have on the band. “Do I wish I could burn it all down, boycott and divest? Sure I do,” she wrote.
Other prominent musicians represented by Wasserman include Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, SZA, Lorde and Tyler, the Creator.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty by a jury in New York of charges including sex trafficking of a minor. She was arrested in 2020 after being accused by federal prosecutors of recruiting and grooming girls for sexual encounters with Epstein between 1994 and 2004.
The US justice department’s release of millions of internal documents related to Epstein has revealed the late financier and sex offender’s ties to many prominent people, both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl.
Epstein’s death in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell was ruled a suicide.
