On December 28, American-French actor Timothée Chalamet shared an Instagram carousel featuring several pictures from his childhood.
The third picture in the carousel shows Timothée with his father Marc Chalamet, a French journalist who works as the New York correspondent for Le Parisien. What gave viewers pause was Marc's resemblance to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.
The comments section of the Instagram post has been flooded with comments remarking upon the resemblance.
"Thought that was Jeff Ep in slide 3," read one comment. "Is that Epstein in the third pic???" another asked.
The picture was also reposted on X, where it has gone viral with 16 million views and hundreds of similar reactions.
"I had a heart attack. I thought that was Jeffrey Epstein," one X user posted. "That was the hardest double take I ever took," another shocked viewer said.
"The Internet needs to take a brief break from posting pictures of old white men sitting next to children while we get all this figure out," one person opined.
Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier who became infamous for running a sex-trafficking network that exploited underage girls and for his links to influential politicians, businessmen and celebrities.
He was arrested by US federal authorities in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking minors, and died later that same year in a New York jail while awaiting trial. While his death was officially ruled a suicide, it has remained the subject of intense scrutiny and public debate.
In recent months, the case has returned to the limelight following the release of additional Epstein-related documents by the US Department of Justice.