Oprah did not fly plane to Epstein's island; her students weren't kidnapped | Fact check

Gabrielle Settles, USA TODAY
·3 min read
64

The claim: Oprah's private jet visited Epstein island 11 times, students at her school were kidnapped

A Jan. 3 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a photo of Oprah alongside a separate photo of a plane.

“Oprah Winfrey’s private jet was at Epstein’s island 11 different times,” reads text on the image. “What ever (sic) happened to all the girls that got kidnapped from her school in Africa?”

The post was liked more than 800 times in two days.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Fact check roundup: What's true and false about Jeffrey Epstein and the individuals on his list

Our rating: False

There is no evidence Winfrey’s jet was on the private island of the late disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, nor is she listed on his flight logs. It was another school, not Winfrey’s, that had a mass kidnapping of students.

Winfrey not listed in newly released Epstein docs

Winfrey has repeatedly been accused online of traveling to Epstein’s private island, but there is no evidence she ever visited. Winfrey is not among those named in newly released documents related to Epstein, which list many friends and associates.

The jet claim also falls flat since the island does not appear to have runways, according to images published by Business Insider.

Epstein would fly on his private plane to the airport in St. Thomas and take a helicopter to the island, according to The New York Times. Winfrey’s name does not appear on the flight logs of Epstein’s private plane.

Fact check: No, Tom Hanks didn't flee US in wake of Epstein documents; video a fabrication

The post also errs referencing Winfrey's school.

The Oprah Winfrey Academy for Girls is not the same school where 276 female students were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in 2014. That crisis occurred at a secondary boarding school in Chibok, Borno state, which is in Nigeria. Amnesty International reports that 98 of the girls were still in captivity as of April 2023.

Winfrey’s academy is based in South Africa. It has not experienced a kidnapping, but one of the school's staff members was charged in 2007 with molesting students. Reports show Winfrey flew back to South Africa, took action to address the issue and fired the school’s headmistress and all dorm matrons.

The Instagram user who shared the post could not be reached for comment.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oprah's private plane did not fly to Epstein island | Fact check