(Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Hulu)
Who wants to talk some more about Alan Dershowitz getting a massage in his underpants at billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s house?
Let’s go with nobody. No one earth needs the visual of Dersh in his skivvies getting rubbed down by an “old Russian lady,” and we don’t want to think about his “perfect, perfect sex life” either. Hardest of passes!
And yet the distinguished law professor will not shut up about it, so here we are. Again.
Currently he’s got his knickers in a twist — shut up, he wears them all the time! — because of an episode of CBS’s The Good Fight in which a fictional attorney who is supposed to have previously represented Epstein refers to Professor Dershowitz as a “shyster.”
“Probably about the time he ditched me for Dershowitz,” says the character played by actor David Alford. “At least I didn’t get a massage, like that shyster. And for the purposes of any potential lawsuit, ‘shyster’ is just my opinion not a statement of fact.”
“The idea that a fictional character can get away with defaming somebody is really a new one,” Dershowitz told Variety, which printed his letter and CBS’s response in full. “You either have to have an entirely fictional account in which they make up the names of everybody or a truthful account. You can’t mix the genres. When you do mix the genres, the law of defamation applies.”
Or as his lawyer Imran H. Ansari put it in his demand that CBS retract the episode and issue a public apology for defaming his client, “Clearly, the dialogue and the context in which it is made, with words loaded with innuendo such as ‘massage,’ ‘Epstein,’ the ‘Virgin Islands,’ in combination with the word ‘shyster,’ falsely suggests that Professor Dershowitz engaged in sexual conduct, i.e. a ‘massage,’ with an underage girl associated with Epstein, and is crooked, unscrupulous and lying about it, i.e. a ‘shyster.’”
From the one-liner about “just my opinion,” Ansari infers “consciousness of guilt,” calling it “indicative that CBS knew the statements were defamatory, yes [sic… “yet”] sought, albeit weakly, to skirt liability.” Because sure, why not, right?
We can only imagine that Jonathan Anschell, ViacomCBS Media Networks executive VP and general counsel was delighted to have this one land on his desk. It’s not every day you get to defend a television character from charges of defaming a world-famous, nudist law professor!
If we understand your letter correctly, you are complaining about a line spoken by a fictional character, in an episode of the fictional series “The Good Fight” (the “Series”). You make this complaint on behalf of Professor Alan Dershowitz, a public figure who has long been associated with Jeffrey Epstein, and who has admitted on television to receiving a massage from a woman at Epstein’s mansion. In the non-fictional world, these factors require us to decline your request that we withdraw the episode, and our correspondence could end right here. Nevertheless, out of respect for Professor Dershowitz, we explain more fully below.
Noting that the very precedents cited in Ansari’s letter affirm that there is no liability for expressions of opinion and that “[v]iewers are generally familiar with dramatized [shows] in which scenes, conversations, and even characters are fictionalized and imagined,” Anschell concludes, “In other words, as one might explain to a small child, the Series, its characters and the things they say are all make-believe.”
Needless to say, CBS will not be apologizing or yanking the episode any time soon. Will Dersh make good on his threat to sue to avenge his honor? Well, we are talking about the same guy who has engaged in protracted defamation litigation to remind America once again of his association with a known pedophile, so … odds are good!
Alan Dershowitz Demands Apology for ‘The Good Fight’ Jeffrey Epstein Episode (EXCLUSIVE) [Variety]
Elizabeth Dye (@5DollarFeminist) lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.