(AFP) – US singer-songwriter Chappell Roan has announced she is leaving the talent agency led and founded by Casey Wasserman, the embattled 2028 Los Angeles Olympics chief whose name recently appeared in files related to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Grammy-winning singer said in a post on Instagram late Monday she was leaving the Wasserman agency with immediate effect. “As of today, I am no longer represented by Wasserman,” Roan wrote. “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.”
Roan did not explicitly mention Casey Wasserman in her statement, which followed similar announcements by lesser-known artists including the band Best Coast. Wasserman apologized last month after a flirty and sexually suggestive 2003 email correspondence between him and Epstein’s jailed former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell appeared in a trove of new Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice.
Wasserman, 51, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the scandal, said his exchange with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking underage girls for Epstein, took place before her crimes came to light. Wasserman also emphasized he “never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.”
While the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee last week gave strong backing to Wasserman, local officials in Los Angeles have called for the 2028 chief to step down. “Having (Wasserman) represent us on the world stage distracts focus from our athletes and the enormous efforts needed to prepare for 2028,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn told The Los Angeles Times.
© 2024 AFP
