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February 10, 2026 — 4:07pm
Chappell Roan has become the highest profile artist to sever ties with Casey Wasserman, the leading talent agent whose name appears in the recently released Epstein files.
The US star, who is currently in Australia headlining the Laneway Festival tour, on Tuesday (AEDT) posted a statement to her Instagram Stories saying she was “as of today, no longer represented by Wasserman, the talent agency led by Casey Wasserman.
“I hold my team to the highest standards and have a duty to protect them as well,” she continued. “No artist, agent or employee should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that conflict so deeply with our own moral values.”
Wasserman was founded in 2002 as a sports marketing and entertainment agency, and has hundreds of music clients, including superstars Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Tyler, the Creator, Kasey Musgraves, Lorde and Pharrell.
But the firm has been in crisis mode since January 30, when messages sent in 2003 by Wasserman to Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and close associate of the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, emerged among the millions of files released by the US Justice Department.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting and trafficking girls to be abused by Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019.
“I think of you all the time,” Wasserman wrote to Maxwell in one of the messages, the BBC reported. “So what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”
“Where are you, I miss you,” Wasserman said in an email to Maxwell later that year, per The Hollywood Reporter, adding that he was soon due to return to New York and asking: “Can we book that massage now?”
A few days after the release of the emails, on February 1 (US time) Wasserman publicly apologised in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light. I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As is well documented, I went on a humanitarian trip as part of a delegation with the Clinton Foundation in 2002 on the Epstein plane. I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.”
Wasserman has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. However, the apology appears to have done little to placate some of his firm’s clients.
On February 6, Bethany Cosentino, frontwoman of rock duo Best Coast, posted a long statement to her Instagram page calling for Wasserman to step down.
“Casey’s response that these emails are ‘deeply regretted’ is not enough. Regret without accountability is just damage control in an attempt to move on while the rest of us are expected to sit with the discomfort of our careers being publicly tied to him,” she wrote.
Earlier this week, Chicago-based indie pop band Beach Bunny joined the calls.
“We are demanding for Wasserman to remove himself and his name from the agency,” the band posted on February 8 (US time).
Just hours before Roan dropped the company, alt rockers Wednesday said they would also leave.
“Given the circumstances, we feel strongly that we should begin the process of extracting ourselves from Wasserman,” the band wrote. “Continuing to be represented by a company led by and named after Casey Wasserman goes against our values and cannot continue.”
The Hollywood Reporter claimed “major stars” at the company had been approached by rival agencies including CAA, WME, IAG and UTA keen to sign them up.
Wasserman and Roan have been approached for comment.
Wasserman is also facing calls to resign from his role as head of the organising committee for the 2028 LA Olympics.
CNN reported last week that LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia, Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez and Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn had all called for Wasserman to step down.
LA mayor Karen Bass said any decision about his position was the responsibility of the board.
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