Journalist and author Jay Beecher's new book takes a highly controversial stance surrounding late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Jay_Beecher/X Everyone knows the sensation: You’re at a party, chatting with someone who seems more interested in glancing around the room clocking the other guests than whatever it is you are discussing.
But at a recent party for author and journalist Jay Beecher, attendees were also busy glancing around the room — to see who had the courage to show up.
That’s because Beecher’s book tackles what might well be one of the biggest taboos in popular culture today. “Naked Lies” sets out to challenge the conventional narrative surrounding the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein, pictured here with Maxwell in 2005, died in prison in 2019. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images In Beecher’s telling Ghislaine Maxwell is not a co-conspirator but rather a victim of a vast media-driven conspiracy propelled by unreliable and self-motivated accusers.
While Beecher considers some of the girls that Epstein and Maxwell trafficked as victims, others are portrayed as duplicitous money grubbers who knew what they were getting into.
Much of the reading public will find the mere idea of the book distasteful, and Epstein’s survivors will likely find parts of it offensive. This is not the kind of book that will come up at a Westside political salon, which makes filling a room for a launch party challenging.
“If the wrong people showed up something easily could have gone wrong,” says Jessica Reed Kraus who co-hosted the event along with the online publishing platform Substack. In recent years, Kraus has emerged as an influential figure in the MAHA movement with The Wall Street Journal calling her The Queen Bee of MAGA Socialites.
For advice on who to invite she called her friend Mark Halperin the New York-based political commentator who was ousted from ABC News back in 2017, and now runs a media company called 2Way. “Mark told me most of the people he thought of wouldn’t take the risk of [showing up]. It’s ridiculous, it’s not like I’m Alex Jones or something,” Kraus told Page Six Hollywood.
It was ultimately a small affair — about 20 or so guests — mostly writers and journalists, some of whom came from mainstream outlets like The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and P6H. It was held at the Back Room in West Hollywood on Thursday evening, in a private space concealed by a secret panel — which seemed fitting.
Journalist Olivia Nuzzi and Vice Media’s Shane Smith were in attendance. Getty Images; REUTERS Vice Media’s Shane Smith was on hand as was Olivia Nuzzi formerly of Vanity Fair (Tech writer Taylor Lorenz RSVP’d but was a no-show).
Attorneys Matthew Bilinksy of Weinberg Gonser (who has a significant online profile), and Matthew Dysart of Greenberg Glusker were also there.
There was a reading and taped testimonials from Alan Dershowitz and Kevin Maxwell, Ghislaine’s brother. (Beecher has been criticized for allegedly taking tens of thousands of dollars from Brian Basham — a public relations consultant who once worked for the Maxwell family, and has also been a defender of Prince Andrew to help pay for the book’s research. The Sunday Times previously reported last year that, “In response to questions about his funding of Beecher, Basham did not deny paying him… but said he was acting only as Beecher’s publisher.”)
At one point Kraus called Epstein’s former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer who is serving life sentences for a quadruple homicide, who she interviewed on speaker phone. Tartaglione claims he was wrongly convicted and pleaded with the journalists on hand to take up his case.
“I think the crowd was great. It was a small but influential and interesting group,” said Kraus.
In an interview, Beecher was under no illusions about how difficult it will be to get his book in the conversation. “We’re seeing thousands and thousands of people who are interested in hearing the other side of the story,” Beecher tells P6H. “But it’s been a massive challenge to get people to listen whether they agree with it or not. Cancel culture is quite big and quite real.”
A little after 9p.m., much of the crowd decided to migrate over to The Chateau Marmont for more drinks. As they filed out, guests walked past a towering stack of unsigned copies of Beecher’s tome.
