Alan Dershowitz demands apology, threatens to sue over Jeffrey Epstein episode

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https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/ala...gy-1234722149/

Dershowitz's lawyers sent the CBS All Access drama a letter on July 17 objecting to the Season 4 finale that referred to him as a "shyster" in connection with his representation of the convicted sex offender. Dershowitz is demanding CBS All Access stop airing the content in question, a retraction of the statement and a public apology. “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,’" Dershowitz's attorney wrote in the letter. In an interview with Variety, Dershowitz questioned whether real-life public figures should be incorporated into fictional dramas. “The idea that a fictional character can get away with defaming somebody is really a new one,” Dershowitz said. “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.”

ViacomCBS rejects Alan Dershowitz's lawsuit threat over The Good Fight's Jeffrey Epstein episode

Dershowitz's attorneys demanded an apology over the Season 4 finale that connected him with Epstein and referred to him as a "shyster." "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,” ViacomCBS attorney Jonathan Anschell wrote in response. “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.” Anschell added: "We’re confident that no viewer would conclude that Professor Dershowitz is a shyster based on one line of opinion from a fictional character on the Series, as opposed to the real-life, factual publications that have called him exactly that."