In February 2026, after the U.S. Department of Justice released more than 3 million files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a claim circulated that the files contained evidence comedian Ellen DeGeneres was a "prolific cannibal."
Posts on X and Threads also claimed DeGeneres left the U.S. because of the allegations contained in the files.
(X user @drhossamsamy65)
Though there are references to cannibalism and references to DeGeneres in the files released by the DOJ, there is nothing in the files linking those references. As such, we rate this claim as false.
We looked at all mentions of DeGeneres in the files and found her name came up largely in articles about other celebrities and in compilations of tweets from her old talk show sent to Epstein by Twitter.
A redacted email quoted a college graduation speech DeGeneres reportedly made. Her name also popped up in an Apple News newsletter featuring news of the day, in which she addressed allegations of misconduct on her show. Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal wrote in another email that was forwarded to Epstein about seeing DeGeneres dancing at a party on the island of St. Barts.
We should note that being mentioned in the files is not necessarily evidence of wrongdoing.
Snopes has previously reported on references to "cannibals" and "cannibalism" in the files. Our search of the DOJ's files revealed 52 instances of the word "cannibal" and six instances of "cannibalism." Many of these results appeared to be duplications of the same mention. None of the references to "cannibal" or "cannibalism" mentioned DeGeneres.
The mentions of "cannibal" or "cannibalism" included media digests; an academic syllabus; a transcript of a conversation between Epstein and a man named "Richard," and an email from Epstein to an unknown person about jerky and "a restaurant called Cannibal."
Snopes has reported extensively on claims related to the Epstein files, including our previous coverage of references to "ritualistic sacrifice" and "cannibalism" in the files.