Alan Dershowitz demands apology, threatens to sue over The Good Fight's Jeffrey Epstein episode

Variety

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.”