Well, my name is in the Epstein files. Not me though.
There’s another Chris Wink. He’s the founder of Blue Man Group, the eclectic artistic troupe that got its start in New York and maintains a longstanding residency in Las Vegas.
That Chris Wink (Blue Man Group founder and artist) is 25 years older than the Chris Wink (journalist) who is writing this. Once a friend pointed out that name appeared in this heinous file and document release, I wanted to ensure somewhere on the internet this clarification was made: there are (at least) two very different Chris Winks. When I was getting my journalism started in 2008, I first learned of the name competition.
Newly released documents show that that Chris Wink corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein back in 2018, apparently trying — first that September through intermediaries — to set up a meeting. This came from an art project he was doing on “the clitoris.”
That alone doesn’t mean anything. Being mentioned or emailing doesn’t equal wrongdoing. As an established artist in New York, it’s certainly plausible he sought the financier’s patronage. It’s also not clear they actually met since, yes, November 2018 was when the Miami Herald published their biggest dissection of Epstein’s abuses — though dates were discussed.
But still — it’s wild to see your own name in documents like that. Especially when the November 2018 email that finally connected artist-Chris Wink with Epstein introduced the Blue Man Group founder as being “big into sexuality.” What does it mean? I genuinely don’t know.
What I do know is this might be the best argument yet for why I’ve always gone by Christopher Wink in my journalism career.
