Epstein island Pokémon Go stop removed after fan outrage

Pokémon Go stops appear nearly everywhere, but no one was expecting to find a digital marker on Little Saint James of all places. That’s because the islet was the apparent nexus of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s many alleged crimes. Epstein’s island is also inacessible to the average person. And yet, up until this week, players of the augmented reality game could make a pit stop to capture Pikachu at the notorious compound.

In Pokémon Go, players can capture and battle with digital creatures by visiting real-world locations. Typically, these landmarks are limited to central areas that are safe and easy to explore. But fans can also submit Pokémon Go stops manually, which means every so often you’ll hear about unusual, if not dangerous, markers becoming part of the popular mobile game.

The developers at Niantic are typically quick to address issues like these, but fans first noticed a Pokémon Go stop located at a sundial on Little Saint James around a year ago. It’s unclear when the locale first appeared in the game, though one estimate based on data from Ingress (the location-based AR foundation for Pokémon Go) claims it happened around 2020 or 2021. Complicating matters further, the real-world image associated with the PokéStop in-game appears to come from an even older YouTube video featuring drone footage of Little Saint James. Niantic did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the removal of the Little Saint James PokéStop.

Players who were able to trick the game into believing they were physically on Epstein’s island say that the location generated run-of-the-mill monsters. But given the history behind Little Saint James, some fans captured Pokémon there to force the game to denote the unusual origin of the creature. In particular, fans sought out meme creatures like Lopunny inside of Epstein’s island, a bunny-like monster favored by people who sexualize Pokémon.

Despite the documented existence of the Little Saint James location, it appears that the area was not removed from the game until around Feb. 9, according to a report by Gaming Bible. Perhaps the renewed interest in the Epstein files following the government’s recent release of over 3.5M documents increased the PokéStop’s visibility in a way that was impossible to ignore. Per a report by Kotaku, players had been virtually visiting Little Saint James in droves over the past week. Consequent reports emphasized the problematic nature of a children’s game ostensibly acting as a gateway to an area connected to Jeffrey Epstein, even if players had to essentially cheat to get there.

That attention subsequently led people to peruse the Epstein files for mention of Pokémon Go. Sure enough, the controversial financier was aware of the AR game. More than that, he seemed impressed by it. In one exchange with new-age guru Deepak Chopra, Epstein encouraged the alternative medicine celebrity to consider making an app similar to that of Niantic’s.

“I think an app for you that allows people to look at their phone and detect an aura about each other, would kill the market,” Epstein offered. “After your return tonight up the app and imagine. wow.”

Image: Department of Justice

Chopra then told Epstein that, while it was a cool idea, he was already exploring virtual reality technology via the Oculus VR headseat. “We have 500 people at the retreat and they have lined up to try it over the next 6 days and are loving the experience … I think it’s good but what your suggesting is beyond awesome and would require a lot of creative imagination and creative technological innovation.”

Since there are literally millions of exchanges in the files, this actually isn’t Epstein’s only connection to the games industry. Still, it’s bewildering to think Epstein might have been throwing Poké Balls every once in a while, in between all his hideous crimes.