CBS News weighs cutting ties with Peter Attia after Epstein emails surface in DOJ file release

CBS News executives are deliberating whether to sever ties with celebrity doctor Peter Attia just days after naming him a contributor—and just days after the Department of Justice released a new batch of Jeffrey Epstein files that included over 1,700 references to the anti-aging influencer.

Attia, 52, issued a public statement Monday on X calling his correspondence with the convicted sex offender "embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible." The emails, some dating back to 2015, reveal a years-long friendship that included crass jokes and references to Epstein's "outrageous" lifestyle.

The timing could not be worse for CBS. Attia was announced as one of 19 new contributors on January 27—three days before the Epstein files dropped.

The Apology Tour Begins

Attia's statement attempted to thread a needle familiar to anyone caught in the Epstein orbit: acknowledge the ugliness without admitting to anything criminal. He stated:

"I apologize and regret putting myself in a position where emails, some of them embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible, are now public, and that is on me. I accept that reality and the humiliation that comes with it."

The doctor denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes:

"I was never on his plane, never on his island, and never present at any sex parties."

He claims he met with Epstein seven or eight times at the sex offender's Manhattan townhouse between 2014 and 2019. The relationship began, according to Attia, when he was introduced to Epstein while raising funds for scientific research.

One 2015 email referenced Epstein's lifestyle as "outrageous" with a note that Attia couldn't tell anyone about it. In his statement, Attia insisted this wasn't evidence of awareness of criminal activity:

"What I was referring to, poorly and flippantly, was the discretion commanded by those social and professional circles — the idea that you don't talk about who you meet, the dinners you attend and the power and influence of the people in those settings."

The explanation asks us to believe that a physician with 1.7 million Instagram followers was simply starstruck by wealth and power. That a man whose entire brand rests on scientific rigor and elite knowledge couldn't be bothered to investigate the convicted sex offender whose lavish parties he attended.

The "Naïve" Defense

Attia acknowledged that he asked Epstein directly about his 2008 conviction. Epstein's answer, according to Attia, was that it involved "prostitution-related charges." He stated:

"I was incredibly naïve to believe him. I mistook his social acceptance in the eyes of the credible people I saw him with for acceptability, and that was a serious error in my judgment."

This framing deserves scrutiny. Epstein's 2008 conviction was not a secret. The details were reported extensively. A quick internet search would have revealed far more than "prostitution-related charges." Yet Attia continued the friendship for years—until 2019.

He claims he only realized in 2018 that Epstein had "grossly minimized" his crimes. By that point, the Miami Herald's investigation into Epstein was making national headlines. The #MeToo movement had arrived. The social cover Epstein once enjoyed was rapidly dissolving.

Attia's timeline suggests he distanced himself from Epstein only when it became professionally dangerous not to.

What Attia Admits He Did Know

Even by his own account, Attia knew plenty:

• He knew Epstein was a convicted sex offender
• He knew Epstein lived in the largest private residence in Manhattan
• He knew Epstein owned a Boeing 727
• He knew Epstein hosted parties with "the most powerful and prominent leaders in business and politics"
• He knew there was an expectation of secrecy—"discretion commanded by those social and professional circles"

None of this raised sufficient alarm. The doctor, who built a career telling people to question mainstream health advice, apparently never questioned why a convicted sex offender commanded such secrecy from his social circle.

CBS News and the Bari Weiss Problem

According to sources who spoke with the New York Post, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was initially reluctant to cut ties with Attia. Weiss has built her reputation as a critic of cancel culture, and dropping a contributor over decade-old emails might seem like exactly the kind of mob-driven response she's spent years opposing.

But the internal argument gaining traction at CBS reportedly centers on something more practical: the network cannot credibly platform a medical expert who joked crudely with a convicted sex trafficker. One 2016 email reportedly included Attia offering Epstein crass dietary advice that mixed medicine with vulgarity.

The question CBS faces isn't really about cancel culture. It's about whether a news organization can present someone as a trustworthy authority on health while a reported 1,741 references to his name sit in the Epstein files.

The Limits of Anti-Cancel Culture Principles

Weiss's hesitation illuminates a genuine tension. There's a difference between destroying someone's career over an old tweet and reconsidering a professional relationship with someone who maintained a years-long friendship with one of the most notorious sex offenders in American history.

Attia's statement tries to preempt this distinction:

"I am not asking anyone to ignore the emails or pretend they aren't ugly. They simply are."

And:

"The man I am today, roughly ten years later, would not write them and would not associate with Epstein at all. Whatever growth I've had over the past decade does not erase the emails I wrote then."

This is the "I've grown" defense, which is quickly becoming a staple of public apologies that asks the audience to weigh past behavior against present remorse. Sometimes that calculus is appropriate. Sometimes the original behavior is disqualifying regardless of subsequent growth.

The Epstein Network Keeps Expanding

The DOJ's release of new Epstein files continues to expose just how wide the convicted sex offender's network stretched. Scientists, doctors, politicians, entertainers, business executives—the list grows with each document dump.

What emerges is a picture of a man who purchased access and respectability by funding research, attending elite gatherings, and cultivating relationships with people who could lend him credibility. Many of those people now claim they were deceived. They didn't know. They were naïve. They trusted the wrong person.

Perhaps some of them were. But the pattern demands a harder question: How many people looked the other way because the access was too valuable to scrutinize? How many decided that a 2008 conviction was somehow ancient history by 2014?

Attia met with Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse up to eight times over five years. He exchanged emails casual enough to include crude jokes. He acknowledged the secrecy surrounding Epstein's world and participated in it anyway.

What Comes Next

CBS News has not officially commented on Attia's status. The network faces a decision that will say something about its editorial standards, regardless of which way it goes.

Attia, for his part, has staked out his position: he did nothing criminal, he was fooled like many others, and he has grown since then. Whether that's enough depends on what standard you apply.

The emails are public now. The files are public. The relationship between a celebrity doctor and a convicted sex offender is documented across 1,741 references in federal records.

Attia says he accepts "the humiliation that comes with it." CBS News is now deciding whether humiliation is where it ends, or where consequences begin.