As much of the music, sports, entertainment, and even political world skirmished over the doings of the Super Bowl Halftime performance, and national news broadcasts have been overtaken on details of the abduction of the mother of NBC news correspondent Savannah Guthrie, perhaps one of the most important and complex revelations and scandals in American history has unfolded. We finally have the release of over 3 million documents tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and a clearer picture of the corruption at the hands of global elites.
It’s almost miraculous that no musicians have so far been directly involved or implicated in any of the revelations. But the same can’t be said for the music industry, and specifically Casey Wasserman, who is the CEO of the Wasserman talent agency. Right behind WME and CAA, Wasserman is one of music’s leading talent booking agencies that represents scores of music artists and bands.
In the country music realm, Wasserman represents the likes of Kenny Chesney, Kacey Musgraves, Old Dominion, and LeAnn Rimes. From the more independent country/Americana world, Wasserman also represents Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Margo Price, Sierra Ferrell, Morgan Wade, and more. The agency also used to represent Orville Peck, but on Tuesday, February 10th, Peck became the first defection from the greater country/roots world after revelations about Casey Wasserman emerged in the Epstein Files.
Wasserman also represents athletes, actors, entertainers, comedians, and other public personalities.
It is important to understand the context of the Casey Wasserman revelations, since simply being mentioned in the Epstein files can inadvertently implicate someone in being involved in underage sex trafficking. For Casey Wasserman, it’s actually the implication of a sexual affair with Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell that has set off a firestorm, and resulted in high profile defections from the booking agency by musical clients.
The January 30th release of documents from the Epstein Files revealed that Casey Wasserman had sent dozens of sexually charged and flirtatious emails to Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003. Wasserman started his talent agency in 1998. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Texas for sex trafficking.
In one message, Ghislaine Maxwell said she “thought of [Wasserman] at inappropriate moments,” to which Wasserman answered “I think of you all the time… So what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit? I am in NY tonight, youre not, what am I to do? Xoxo cw.” Wasserman was married to his then wife Laura at the time of the exchanges.
In a statement, Wasserman said, “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light.” He went on to say he “never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As is well documented, I went on a humanitarian trip as part of a delegation with the Clinton Foundation in 2002 on the Epstein plane. I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.”
Along with running the Wasserman talent agency, Casey Wasserman also happens to be the chairman of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, creating a scandal in the sports world as well.
Bethany Cosentino of the indie rock band Best Coast was the first to decide to speak out about Casey Wasserman and leave the agency.
“We are tired of learning, over and over, that men who control access, resources, money and so-called safety in our industry are given endless grace,” Cosentino said. “We are tired of being asked to treat proximity to something horrific as an unfortunate situation we should simply move past — especially when the person involved still holds all the power. This letter is my public refusal to accept that this is ‘just how things are.”
The Dropkick Murphys subsequently left the agency, saying, “It saddens us to part ways with [our agents], but the namesake of the agency is in the Epstein files so…we GONE.” Wednesday is an indie rock band with country ties who also left, saying, “Continuing to be represented by a company led by and named after Casey Wasserman goes against our values and cannot continue.”
Other clients that have left or spoken out about the agency include Beach Bunny, Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells, Sylvan Esso, and Gigi Perez. On Monday (2-9), the agency arguably lost its biggest fish over the scandal when Chappell Roan left the agency. Roan said, “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.”
Strangely, the musical defections from the Wasserman agency are one of the few fallouts from many of the revelations in the Epstein Files. While The U.K. and other world governments are going to major scandals tied to officials mentioned in the files, the United States seems to be distracted over culture war issues of nominal consequence like the competing Bad Bunny / Kid Rock Super Bowl halftime presentations, and celebrity news like the Savannah Guthrie family abduction.
However, it feels important to underscore that the revelations about Casey Wasserman are about the pursuit of an extramarital affair with Ghislaine Maxwell as opposed to Epstein dealings directly, at least at this time. Wasserman did work with the Clinton Foundation, which has regularly fielded accusations of corruption itself, and Epstein was involved in as well. But “mentioned in the Epstein files” has become shorthand for implicating individuals, when sometimes that’s all it is: a mention.
Meanwhile, there are individuals within the music industry, including artists, accused of much more heinous activity that continue to be insulated from repercussions, like Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast points out.
Saving Country Music has continued to report on the case of country music manager and publicist Kirt Webster, who has been accused by over 20 individuals of rape, sexual harassment, and other serious charges. Nonetheless, he’s able to work out in the open, including recently promoting a ’90s Country tribute show with scores of artists signing up to participate.
Artists Diplo, Nelly, and Nick Carter of The Backstreet Boys have all been accused by three or more women each of rape and sexual assault, yet continue to be booked at major country music festivals and events without fellow artists threatening to pull out of events due to their participation.
What the revelations about Casey Wasserman do expose is that the music industry is not entirely immune from the effects of the Jeffrey Epstein orbit. Wasserman’s involvement with Epstein through the Clinton Foundation, Ghislaine Maxwell, or otherwise should continue to be investigated and probed to make sure it doesn’t go any farther than some raunchy messages.
It was the sexual revelations in 2017, and major defections from the agency from people like Dolly Parton and Kid Rock that brought the powerful Webster Public Relations down, run by Kirt Webster. Time will tell if the loss of artists will bring down Wasserman as well. If it does, it would cause major reverberations throughout the music industry.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source savingcountrymusic.com ’
