Pokémon GO team horrified to discover PokéStop on Epstein Island, scramble to delete it – We Got This Covered
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Image via the Pokémon Conpany
Image via the Pokémon Conpany

Pokémon GO team horrified to discover PokéStop on Epstein Island, scramble to delete it

Ash! You don't have to catch these Pokémon. Stay away! Ash! Noooooo.

The Pokémon cartoon theme song was very clear about what a successful Pokémon trainer is supposed to do. Millions of impressionable young minds were told every week:

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“I wanna be the very best / Like no one ever was. To catch them is my real test / To train them is my cause. I will travel across the land / Searching far and wide. Teach Pokémon to understand / The power that’s inside”

But, unfortunately, it seems that for the last few years searching “far and wide” has also included… Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile island of Little St. James. Oops.

It appears that sometime in 2020 or 2021, an enterprising Pokémon GO player decided that Little Saint James could use a PokéStop, along with its insanely creepy temple, bizarre medical facilities, and disgustingly sexualized interior decoration.

I mean sure, I guess when you’ve spent a long night partying with Epstein and his sick cronies, you might want to refill your Pokéballs and see which creatures are hidden around the island?

The situation appears to stem from developer Niantic’s other mixed-reality game Ingress, which used real-life location data submitted by users to create its points of interest. That data was then used to populate the world of Pokémon GO and so Epstein Island ended up being transplanted into this game.

Pokémon trainers became aware of this and promptly began spoofing their location so their avatars could “visit” Little St James. This resulted in a wave of popularity that brought the PokéStop to Niantic’s attention, and it has now been officially deactivated.

You don’t gotta catch these ones

Naturally, fans also began wondering which Pokémon might find a home on Epstein Island:

And of course, Gumshoos, a stupid-looking weasel that absolutely does not bear any resemblance to a certain sitting President of the United States…

Regardless, the fun is now over. And as for the real Little St James? It’s now owned by billionaire Stephen Deckoff, who purchased it in May 2023 for $60 million from Epstein’s estate. He intends to develop a luxury 25-room resort on the islands, describing it as a “world-class” destination to boost tourism and jobs.

Oh yeah, I’m sure tourists will be rushing to spend their vacation on The World’s Most Evil Island.


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Author
Image of David James
David James
I'm a writer/editor who's been at the site since 2015. I cover politics, weird history, video games and... well, anything really. Keep it breezy, keep it light, keep it straightforward.