Alan Dershowitz Was Not ‘An Impartial Analyst' In BBC Interview About Ghislaine Maxwell Trial
After the verdict for Ghislaine Maxwell was announced to the world Wednesday, BBC sought on-air comments from Alan Dershowitz, a former lawyer for alleged sex trafficking co-conspirator Jeffrey Epstein.
Now BBC is apologizing to viewers for the obvious conflict of interest and will be investigating how Dershowitz was inevitably brought on to comment on the case. Maxwell, 63, was found guilty of five out of the six charges related to sex trafficking individuals under the age of 18.
“Last night’s interview with Alan Dershowitz after the Ghislaine Maxwell verdict did not meet BBC’s editorial standards, as Mr. Dershowitz was not a suitable person to interview as an impartial analyst, and we did not make the relevant background clear to our audience. We will look into how this happened,” the BBC News Press Team wrote on Twitter.
Statement on interview with Alan Dershowitz pic.twitter.com/MlXkqdJI8u
BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) December 30, 2021
Dershowitz, who has also defended high-profile defendants like O. J. Simpson, Harvey Weinstein, Julian Assange and Donald Trump, also took to Twitter to defend BBC and his appearance on the show.
Dershowitz, 83, defended Epstein from initial allegations of soliciting sex from minors in 2008. To make matters worse for BBC, Virginia Giuffre alleges that Dershowitz was one of the people Epstein trafficked her to, she alleged six times in an interview for Netflix’s “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.”
Dershowitz vehemently denies these allegations and has never been charged with a crime. Giuffre is also one of Prince Andrew’s main accusers. Dershowitz commented in a series of tweets that:
Following the Maxwell conviction, BBC requested an interview, during which I explicitly stated that I , Prince Andrew and other people had been accused of having sex with Virginia Guffre.
Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) December 30, 2021
I commented on the prosecution’s wise decision not to use her as a witness because of her lack of credibility. The media has repeatedly interviewed victims of Epstein’s abuse.
Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) December 30, 2021
It is entirely appropriate for the media to interview victims of Guiffre’s false accusations as long as there is full disclosure and no one is misled.
Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) December 30, 2021
Dershowitz is also a former Harvard professor, teaching there from 1964 until 2013, and was cited by the BBC as a “constitutional lawyer,” which he is. However, the BBC did not provide context that he was Epstein’s former lawyer or that he had been accused by an alleged victim of soliciting sex from her.
He used his platform on BBC to question Giuffre’s credibility, saying that she was not used as a witness because a jury would not believe her, but did not deny the allegations against Maxwell.
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