Mark Foster of Foster the People recently sat down with Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig for his Beats 1 radio show “Time Crisis,” to further discuss his conspiracy theory on Jeffrey Epstein. The band recently tweeted conspiracy theories that Epstein is still alive, claiming the body that was found in his jail cell is a look-alike. “Have you seen photos of the body? it’s obviously not him. my guess is, epstein’s on a private plane to somewhere in the middle east getting prepped for plastic surgery right now #EpsteinBodyDouble, the band tweeted.

Not surprisingly, the tweet received backlash from multiple news outlets, with Foster eventually stating “I find it strange that I’ve been chastised by reporters from NBC and other news outlets for my opinion. Everything you guys have been reporting has been conjecture. If you want to be considered a respected authority of truth, do a better job. And to anyone else who considers it ‘off brand’ for an artist to talk about social issues, cover-ups, and justice… A. you need a history lesson B. you’re scared of what i’m saying C. my voice is my brand, whether it’s used to speak or sing.”

According to Pitchfork, in “Time Crisis,” Koenig asked Foster, “Was it the [side-by-side] photo that set you off? What about before you saw the photo, did you already think, ‘I bet he’s not even dead?’” Foster then replied, “I think you go through all the realms of possibilities of what happened, what could have happened. And look, I’m not a forensics expert—I put out a fucking tweet. You know what I mean? Just being a musician that wanted to put out a tweet and start a public discourse about this guy. But you look at the photo, and it’s not the same guy!”

Toward the end of the interview, Koenig asked Foster to tell listeners what they should take away from his tweets about Epstein. He said, “I guess I would say that I feel like we’re living in an age of misinformation. People need to do their own research and dig and not believe everything that you hear.”

Photo Credit: Owen Ela