The internet went into absolute meltdown last week after the House Oversight Committee dropped thousands of pages of emails allegedly tied to billionaire child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Buried inside the newly released documents was one especially bizarre exchange between Epstein and his brother Mark – a throwaway line that instantly sent social media into chaos.
The email, dated March 2018, appears to show Mark urging Jeffrey to ask former Trump adviser Steve Bannon whether Vladimir Putin “has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba.” Jeffrey shot back with a dry, “And I thought- I had tsuris,” using the Yiddish term for “troubles.”
And just like that, the internet grabbed the popcorn.
Why “Bubba” sent the internet into overdrive
The nickname “Bubba” has long been linked to former US President Bill Clinton, who, like Trump, had known ties to Epstein over the years. So once the email hit the public, people immediately assumed Mark Epstein was referencing Clinton – and the memes, theories, and unhinged group chats practically wrote themselves.
Emails between Epstein and his brother reference Trump and "Bubba", which many believe could be Bill Clinton. Credit: Aaron P. Bernstein / Getty Images.
But was the email a serious claim? A coded joke? Or just two wealthy brothers engaging in dark, private banter? Depending on which corner of social media you landed in, you’d get a different answer.
Mark Epstein denies “Bubba” is Bill Clinton
As speculation spiralled, Mark Epstein stepped in to shut at least one rumour down.
In a statement shared by Business Insider reporter Jacob Shamsian, Mark insisted everyone had gotten it wrong. “For the avoidance of doubt, the reference to ‘Bubba’ in this correspondence is not, in any way, a reference to former President Bill Clinton,” he wrote.
Mark described the emails as nothing more than “a humorous private exchange between two brothers,” adding that any attempts to link the comment to Clinton “misrepresent both the purpose and the tone of the original correspondence".
That clarification closed one conspiracy…but opened a dozen others. Because Mark never actually revealed who “Bubba” was.
Clinton’s team fires back: “These emails prove Bill did nothing”
It didn’t take long for Bill Clinton’s camp to respond. His spokesperson, Angel Ureña, posted a statement on X pushing back hard against the new wave of speculation.
“These emails prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing,” the statement read. “The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else.”
The message was clear: Clinton’s team believes the investigation is a political stunt, and they’re not entertaining any theories tying him to Epstein beyond what’s already been publicly documented.
Mystery deepens as public tries to decode “Bubba”
Online, the conversation hasn’t slowed for a second. The Epstein email release has reignited massive interest in his entire circle of high-profile associates, and the strange “Bubba” comment has become one of the most viral snippets from the cache.
Some people are convinced it’s nothing but dark humour between siblings. Others think it could point toward someone else in Epstein’s network – and are now digging through connections, timelines, and nicknames trying to piece it together.
But without Mark naming the person behind the moniker, the theory mill is running at full speed, and the mystery remains completely unsolved.
What comes next in the Epstein document fallout?
With more material from the Epstein archives still emerging, the online frenzy isn’t slowing down. The “Bubba” reference has quickly become one of the most bizarre yet intriguing items to surface so far – and until someone actually identifies who the nickname belongs to, the speculation is only going to continue.
One thing’s certain: this won’t be the last strange revelation to ignite the internet’s imagination.