Gwyneth Paltrow Compared to Jeffrey Epstein During Trial in Wild Moment

The plaintiff in the Gwyneth Paltrow ski collision case made a shocking comparison between the actress and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Terry Sanderson, 76, is suing Paltrow for damages after claiming she crashed into him on a ski slope, causing him severe injuries. He's seeking $300,000 in damages while Paltrow has counter-sued, claiming the collision was his fault, and she's seeking a symbolic $1, plus legal fees.

The closing arguments from both sides are expected to be heard on Thursday, but on Wednesday, while Sanderson was on the stand, he made the unfavorable comparison, which was called "ridiculous testimony" by Paltrow's attorney. The judge quickly told the jury to disregard Sanderson's words.

Sanderson, a retired optometrist and army captain, claims Paltrow skied into his back in February 2016 at the Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah.

"I guess like, what is going on here? This is obviously an issue that someone needs to be accountable for, and if they're never accountable, what are they gonna do? They're gonna do it again," Sanderson said of the ski incident while speaking from the witness box. He immediately jumped into a reference, which stopped the trial in its tracks.

"Now we have the... molesting of young children on an island," Sanderson said, making a reference to billionaire Epstein's private Caribbean island, Little St. James. After a voice said "your honor," Sanderson immediately reneged on his previous statement and said "denial."

"This is ridiculous testimony, he's talking about..." Paltrow's attorney Stephen Owens began, as Paltrow sat looking shocked next to him.

"Sustained as to relevance. The last part, the jury should disregard," Judge Kent Holmberg ordered.

The question asked of Sanderson by his attorney Kristin VanOrman was: "Was it important to you to bring this lawsuit?" Sanderson responded by discussing the insults he had received over suing a celebrity, which led him to make the thinly veiled Epstein comparison.

While the statement was disregarded in court, it was widely viewed and shared on social media as cameras broadcast the events from inside the Third Judicial District Court in Park City, Utah.

"Terry has made Gwyneth Paltrow almost likable. Good grief," wrote Twitter user @Kicking_chicken commenting on the clip of Sanderson making the comparison.

A defense lawyer watching the trial, Ryan McCarthy, shared his issue with the tactics of Sanderson's attorney, who was speaking to Sanderson when he made his statement. "Not a Utah lawyer but this kind of whimsical narrative testimony is objectionable in a lot of places, even when it's Epstein-less," he said on Twitter.

Other social media users commented that the moment was "stunning" and that Sanderson's words "caught everyone off guard."

"This man has lost the plot," wrote TikTok user @theshamingofjay, who shared the clip online.