A Florida man who’s been forced to deny he’s Jeffrey Epstein has spoken out.
The man, who has become known online as “Palm Beach Pete,” shot to internet fame after a short clip of him driving around Florida spread rapidly across social media.
The footage was shared by Andrew Posey and showed Pete cruising along in a black convertible while wearing sunglasses.
Viewers quickly flooded the comments, with one person writing: “That’s literally Epstein.”
As the comparisons gained traction and the video continued to circulate, Pete decided to address the speculation head-on.
“Hey everybody, this is Palm Beach Pete and my video went viral because some dude randomly filmed me while I was driving on I-95, unbeknownst to me. And the next thing I know, I’m a viral sensation,” he said in a video posted to the Instagram handle @NotEpstein.
Pete later discussed the sudden attention during an appearance on The Nicky Gordo Show, describing how quickly the situation escalated once the clip took off.
“This whole thing is phenomenal. I’m driving down I-95, minding my own business, and some knucklehead films me, and the next thing I know, my phone is blowing up.
“I’m minding my own business. Driving down to play some tennis.
“And the next thing you know, hundreds of millions of views all over the world, phone calls all over the place when it first dropped.”
He also shared how the viral moment has followed him into everyday life, including while he was out with his girlfriend.
“I was out at a restaurant… really nice restaurant with my girlfriend, and she says to me, ‘Those people at the table over there, they’re talking about you,'” Pete added.
“So I went over to their table. I said, ‘You guys talking about me?’
“They said, ‘Are you the guy that went viral on the internet?’ I said, ‘Yep, that’s me.’ And they wanted to take a photo immediately.
According to Pete, the requests didn’t stop there once he moved elsewhere in the venue.
He continued: “Then I went to the bar. Bartender wanted to take a photo of me. Ran into a friend of mine also sitting at the bar. She introduces me to her friend.
“I introduce myself and snot’s coming out of his nose because he thinks it’s so funny that he just met viral Jeffrey Epstein.”
In a separate interview with TMZ, Pete said he isn’t planning to alter his appearance despite the ongoing comparisons and renewed attention.
He said: “I’m a regular guy, I’m retired, I’ve lived in the city for a long time. I worked in commercial real estate. This guy is dead. He was a really bad person. I can hold my head high – I didn’t do anything. I’m just a better looking version than Jeffrey.”