Featured Image Credit: Twitter/abc730/Shutterstock
Topics: Bill Gates, Jeffrey Epstein, US News
Daisy Phillipson
Topics: Bill Gates, Jeffrey Epstein, US News
Bill Gates has been slammed for his 'uncomfortable' response about the nature of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
In a new interview with abc730, the Microsoft founder was grilled about the 'dinners' he had with the sex offender who, while awaiting sex trafficking charges in August 2019, took his own life.
This isn't the first time Gates, 67, has been questioned about the meetings that took place between the pair.
But in the latest interview, he appeared to grow frustrated when talk turned to Epstein.
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Presenter Sarah Ferguson kicked off the conversation by saying: "One of the issues that's dogged you is that of your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
"Do you regret the relationship that you maintained with him against Melinda's advice and wishes?"
Melinda French Gates previously spoke about how she had protested her former husband's decisions to meet with Epstein and said it was one of the contributing factors to their divorce.
In response to Ferguson's question, Gates says: "You're going way back in time, but yeah, I will say it for the over 100th time, yeah, I shouldn't have had dinners with him."
But the conversation doesn't end there, with the presenter adding: "Epstein had a way of sexually compromising people, is that what Melinda was warning you about?"
Gates responds: "No... I mean it's... no, I had dinner with him and that's all."
Ferguson continues to probe, asking for clarification on whether he regrets 'the relationship', but the tech boss seems to imply the only interaction was 'a dinner'.
In the final moment of the segment, Gates denies there ever being a relationship between the convicted pedophile and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
But in an investigation by The New York Times, published in 2021, it was alleged that Gates met with Epstein numerous times at the start of 2011, with a photograph showing the pair together in Epstein's New York mansion.
According to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship and documents reviewed by the outlet, they were said to have met at least three times at the Manhattan townhouse.
Employees of Gates' foundation were also alleged to have paid numerous visits to Epstein's mansion.
The clip taken from his latest interview is now circulating on Twitter, where commenters are slamming Gates for his defensive response.
One person said: "Dinners? What were the conversations about with a true blue paedophile Bill?"
Another wrote: "Talk about awkward and uncomfortable. This man not only didn’t want to answer, he looked like he was on the stand trying to be as brief as he could in his responses."
UNILAD has contacted a Bill Gates representative for comment.