To be sure, survivors are not taking for granted the notion that a Democratic Congress would move such measures forward. But they have recognized that they might have some say about that.
“Survivors are powerful,” said Elisa Batista, the campaign director of UltraViolet, a gender equity nonprofit that worked with Giuffre’s brothers to organize a vigil for her. “We have the numbers. Please vote.”
After a campaign from feminist organizations including UltraViolet, Apple implemented new App Store restrictions on “nudify” apps that can generate nonconsensual intimate imagery. Now, Google must do the same on its Play Store.
"Several national organizations are working to bring survivors and our allies together to demand systemic change. Organizations like mine, me too. International, along with the National Women's Law Center and UltraViolet, are on the front lines organizing survivor leaders, fighting for survivors in courtrooms, and keeping people engaged on these issues."
UltraViolet, as well as other gender justice, tech accountability, and pro-democracy organizations, have launched a joint campaign in response. In a petition with over 29,000 signatures at the time of this writing, they call on Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri to stop censoring posts about the Cornell case.
The assembly outside MoMA also included Epstein survivors and members of We Are UltraViolet and the research initiative Time & Memory Project. Nicole Regalado, vice president of campaigns at We Are UltraViolet, told Hyperallergic, “By serving on MoMA’s board, whether it’s intentional or not, MoMA is helping to sanitize Leon Black’s reputation.”
Black became the chairman of MoMA’s board in 2018 and stepped down in 2021 amid a call for his removal by more than 150 artists, though he remained a trustee.
Alongside a handful of Epstein survivors, a small group of organisers for the Institute for Primary Facts and the feminist non-profit UltraViolet urged passersby to explore the documents in the truck. The project is a mobile iteration of the 3.5-million-document Trump-Epstein reading room, which opened in Tribeca in May to raise awareness of Epstein’s network of alleged co-conspirators. The truck houses 440 books of the files, including volumes dedicated to references to US President Donald Trump. It also features community comments and a selection of paintings by Maria Farmer, one of the first women to accuse Epstein.
“I’m very disappointed to see people visiting the MoMA today, and I think it’s important that those folks become educated as to who Leon Black is,” Elisa Batista, a campaign director with UltraViolet, told the Art Newspaper. “We’re OK with not seeing the art in the MoMA as long as they keep enabling this abuser.”
Billionaire Leon Black is still on the board of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). And for anyone who cares about the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his associates, the protection of women, and justice being served, this should be a problem. The latest protest calling for Black’s removal took place yesterday just down the block from MoMA, led by UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group, alongside the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Bookmobile, a physical presentation of all 3.5 million Epstein files released by the Department of Justice to date.
“It’s outrageous that someone who has been credibly accused and held in contempt of Congress is sitting on the MoMA board, [at] such a prestigious institution,” Elisa Batista, UltraViolet’s campaign director, told me. UltraViolet launched its Epstein Accountability Project to hold accountable the wealthy and powerful who enabled Epstein and participated in his abuse of over 1,200 women and girls.
The protest was organized by UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group, alongside the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Bookmobile, a truck holding micro-printed copies of the Justice Department’s Epstein files.
“We want Leon Black to be held accountable. And that starts with a prestigious institution like MoMA dropping him,” said Elisa Batista, UltraViolet’s campaign director. “It would be huge for them.”
She said Black’s donations make it harder for the museum to remove him. “We understand that they’ve received tens of millions of dollars in gifts from him,” Batista said. “So it’s hard on them to let him go. But they can and they must."
If leaders of New York’s Museum of Modern Art thought that calls to remove board member Leon Black, an Epstein associate, would eventually die down, a group of two dozen protesters today proved them very much mistaken.
“By serving on MoMA’s board, whether it’s intentional or not, MoMA is helping to sanitize Leon Black’s reputation,” Nicole Regalado, vice president of campaigns at We Are UltraViolet, told Hyperallergic at today’s action.
“Those folks determine what artists we celebrate and whose stories are told when millions of people and children visit MoMA each year,” she added, referring to the influence that comes with being a museum trustee. “And we do not want an accused sexual predator who has been enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s crime ring to have that kind of power over shaping our culture.”
The women’s rights group UltraViolet Action is circulating a petition destined for Hochul and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) demanding that the gov call lawmakers back into session now to fix the rape law.
“Let us be clear: there is no valid consent when someone is intoxicated,’’ the petition says. "New York state law, as it is today, in essence, lays the blame and shame on survivors and lets perpetrators off the hook, which is completely unacceptable.
“We count on you, Governor Hochul and Speaker Heastie, to correct this injustice and call for an extraordinary session of the New York State Assembly to pass Assembly Bill A101, which would close the voluntary intoxication exclusion and bring Jane Doe closer to the justice she deserves.”
Jenna Sherman, a campaign director at the advocacy group UltraViolet, said, “Opt-out models are not consent.” She argued that warning sounds can be missed in places such as parties, concerts and children’s playrooms, leaving bystanders to monitor devices they don’t own.
We’re launching a nationwide effort to hold the powerful people connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s network of abuse accountable. From rapid-response campaigns to high-visibility public actions, we’re making sure the 1,000+ survivors’ calls for justice are heard — not ignored. Give today to help keep the pressure on.