While the name of Audrey Azoulay is circulating to replace Jack Lang at the Arab World Institute, who resigned after the revelations linked to the Epstein affair, a certain confusion surrounded the former director of Unesco: wrongly accused of being also compromised in this matter, her name actually only appears once in an article about her.
Published on: 02/13/2026 - 12:42
After the resignation of Jack Lang from the Arab World Institute (IMA), linked to revelations about his relations with Jeffrey Epstein, the former director of UNESCO expected to succeed him is in turn wrongly accused of being in "the Epstein documents". These alleged accusations come ten days after the US Justice Department released three million new documents.
On the social network
Just one email
But these insinuations are misleading: as the fact-checking editorial team of 20 Minutes was able to verify on February 9, only one document directly mentions the name of Audrey Azoulay in the three million files published by the American administration.
This single document, which can be consulted on the website of the American Department of Justice (here), is in reality a press review from the Jewish News Syndicate, a news agency which covers news related to Judaism in the world.
Dated October 2017, this email only mentions the appointment of Audrey Azoulay to the post of Director General of UNESCO, highlighting “the election of the first Jewish Director General” at UNESCO.
Misleading visuals
Nothing therefore indicates a relationship between Audrey Azoulay and Jeffrey Epstein. But the misinformation does not stop there, the fault lies in misleading online publications: on Facebook, several pages, including the one with nearly three million Pure TV subscribers, relay a visual (see front page photo) which suggests that it too would be compromised. "News flash: [...] favorite to replace Jack Lang at the Arab World Institute, Audrey Azoulay is also cited in the (sic) Epstein documents", we can read.
The text of the Pure TV publication which accompanies the visual nevertheless specifies, but only after four paragraphs, that it is only a single email, and even mentions 20 Minutes as a source.
Despite these details, many Internet users seem to have been deceived. “It would be simpler to say who didn't soak” in the files Epstein declares, for example, a comment liked several dozen times in the Pure TV publication.
It also seems that the media 20 Minutes itself indirectly participated in prolonging the confusion, by also broadcasting a visual on X whose wording suggests that Audrey Azoulay could also be compromised by documents directly incriminating her. "Jack Lang's potential successor already at the heart of the controversy?", asks the media in its publication, sharing a visual titled: "Epstein affair - [...] Does Audrey Azoulay appear in the files?".
On This is for example the case of the account which presents itself as a Les Spectateurs news account, without however redirecting to the article in question. A reading of the article would, however, have made it possible to understand that there is nothing to indicate that Audrey Azoulay was in contact with Jeffrey Epstein.
Several potential successors to Jacques Lang
As for the election for the presidency of the IMA, the board of directors of the Institute told AFP that it will meet next Tuesday to replace Jack Lang.
Read alsoThe IMA board of directors will meet next Tuesday to replace Jack Lang
In addition to Audrey Azoulay, the names of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, as well as another former Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, are circulating as potential successors.
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