WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Paramount-owned CBS News is expected to cut ties with new contributor Peter Attia over his dealings with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, the Wrap reported on Monday, citing an individual with knowledge of the parent company's thinking.
Attia's name appeared more than 1,700 times in the trove of 3 million emails released as part of the Epstein files by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday, the report said.
It also said that in the emails, Attia, a wellness expert,
appeared "chummy" with the late convicted sex offender, making crude jokes and "gushing about Epstein's 'outrageous' lifestyle".
CBS News and Attia did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The potential move would be a blow to CBS Editor-In-Chief Bari Weiss' strategy to restructure operations by adding 19 new contributors and focus on bringing a "streaming mentality" to the network.
Attia boasts a sizable social media following and has more than 1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he discusses topics relating to health, wellness and longevity. He also has over 1.5 million Instagram followers.
Attia addressed his inclusion in the Epstein release in a Monday post on social media platform X.
He said he met with Epstein seven or eight times at his New York City home between 2014 and 2019, but never witnessed illegal activity or saw Epstein accompanied by anyone who appeared to be underage.
"I was not involved in any criminal activity," he said. "My interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone.
"That said, I apologize and regret putting myself in a position where emails, some of them embarrassing, tasteless and indefensible, are now public, and that is on me. I accept that reality and the humiliation that comes with it," he said.
Attia appears to have been removed from the website of David Protein, a protein bar company he has invested in.
As of January 29, Attia appeared on the company's homepage as chief science officer, according to an archived version of the webpage accessed with the Wayback Machine. As of January 12, he appeared on the company's "experts" page with the same title, an archived webpage shows.
Attia no longer appears on either webpage. David Protein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru and Leah Douglas in Washington; editing by Pooja Desai and Mark Heinrih)
