By Ron Charles Critic, Book World, Washington Post
Alan Dershowitz, who is a real lawyer, claims he has been defamed by Benjamin Dafoe, who is a fictional lawyer.
Hang on, your honor. Things are about to get complicated.
“The Good Fight,” which streams on CBS All Access, frequently revolves around ripped-from-the-headlines events. On May 28, the legal drama aired an episode called “The Gang Discovers Who Killed Jeffrey Epstein,” about the wealthy sex offender who died in prison last year. On the show, Benjamin Dafoe, Epstein’s (fictional) former attorney, says he formed a very bad opinion of Epstein after “he ditched me for Dershowitz.” Then he adds: “At least I didn’t get a massage, like that shyster.”
In a letter sent to CBS and made public by Variety, Dershowitz’s lawyer claims that this episode is defamatory and constitutes “a direct attack on his professional reputation as an attorney and professor of law.” Dershowitz wants CBS to delete the offending dialogue and issue him a public apology.
Is ‘The Good Fight’ worth adding another streaming subscription? Afraid so.
A real-life lawyer for CBS responded with all the pluck and wit you would expect from a character on “The Good Fight.” “Benjamin Dafoe is not a real lawyer,” wrote attorney Jonathan Anschell. “. . . In other words, as one might explain to a small child, the Series, its characters and the things they say are all make-believe. People don’t watch the Series for factual information about Professor Dershowitz or anyone else.”
Dershowitz’s objection to “The Good Fight” may sound like a variant of the strange legal battle that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) launched last year against a parodic cow on Twitter. But his complaint, if successful, could pose a challenge to the vibrancy of contemporary historical fiction and biographical fiction — indeed, to any creative work that includes interactions between fictional and real-life public figures.
Just this summer, for instance, several prominent writers have published novels that borrow, embellish and manipulate the details of well-known people’s lives. Their stories freely mingle fiction and nonfiction, statements people have said and statements they have never said. There are no footnotes in these novels to distinguish truth from fantasy, research from invention. Those elements are as hard to pick out as the lentils that Cinderella’s stepmother tossed in the ashes. (Note: A lawyer for Cinderella’s stepmother categorically denies that accusation.)
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