Evan Ross Responds to the Fact That His Mother, Diana Ross, Is in the Epstein Files

There have been a lot of odd reveals during the slow release of the so-called Epstein files. Thanks to the Epstein Transparency Act, the Department of Justice (DOJ) was legally obligated to make them public on Dec. 19, 2025. Unfortunately, the process is moving at a glacial pace, as the DOJ is staggering the release of thousands of documents, a great deal of which have been heavily redacted.

The first round of documents included a lot of never-before-released photos of former president Bill Clinton, including one where he was swimming in a pool with Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. There was a shocking lack of photos of President Donald Trump, the man who was friends with Epstein for many years. Then there was the occasional picture of Epstein with a non-political person of note. For example, what was Diana Ross doing in these files? Here's what we know.

A photo of a smiling Diana between Clinton and a redacted individual went viral after it showed up in the Epstein files. Clinton has his arm around Michael Jackson, who is not smiling. There are two other redacted individuals in front of the former president. All three of the redacted images appear to be of children.

The same photo taken from a different angle was shared by Byline Media co-founder Peter Jukes, who snagged it from Getty Images. In a post to X (formerly Twitter), Jukes shouted out the MeidasTouch Network, who were the first to find the original photo. Without the redacted black boxes, we see the children in the picture are Diana's son Evan and Michael Jackson's two older children, Paris and Prince.

Text above the Getty Images photo claims it was taken in Washington, D.C., in December 2003. That might not be accurate. In April 2002, Michael Jackson performed at a voter registration and fundraising event held at the Apollo Theater in New York City. A photograph taken during Jackson's performance shows Diana wearing what appears to be the same outfit, next to Evan, who looks to be wearing the same shirt he was photographed in. Either way, we don't know why this was in the Epstein files.

The Hollywood Unlocked Instagram account shared the redacted photo as well as the Getty Images picture, pointing out that Diana was with her son. Evan Ross popped into the comments, writing, "Thank you. These people are ridiculous."

There is a more concerning theory surrounding this photo's existence in the Epstein files, and that is it actually wasn't in there. It was shared to X by White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson who wrote, "Per the Epstein Files Transparency Act, DOJ was specifically instructed only to redact the faces of victims and/or minors." This suggests that the redacted images were possible victims. Either the White House didn't know, or they did and were planting evidence.