Alan Dershowitz wants everyone to know he’s been “blackballed” on Martha’s Vineyard. And the emeritus Harvard law professor apparently will not stop talking about it until all of America has heard his sob story.
The longtime attorney and Jeffrey Epstein pal has spent the past few years grumbling about the treatment he’s endured during his regular stays in the exclusive playground of the ultra-wealthy. It started with a 2018 column for The Hill, when he whined at length about the “shunning” he’d received in the Vineyard for defending then-President Donald Trump—painting himself as a true champion of civil liberties.
“But one good thing is that being shunned by some ‘old friends’ on Martha’s Vineyard has taught me who my real friends are and who my fairweather friends were,” he wrote. “From a personal point of view, I could not care less about being shunned by people whose views regarding dialogue I do not respect.”
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Despite widespread mockery for that column, Dersh has continued to portray himself as a victim of “cancel culture” at the hands his elite neighbors. In fact, he’s made his supposed “cancellation” the primary theme of his latest book, titled, The Price of Principle: Why Integrity Is Worth the Consequences.
As such, Dershowitz has recently taken to social media and regularly appeared on pro-Trump cable channel Newsmax to repeatedly rehash his Vineyard traumas. He also shared an email from someone who claimed they were beaten up on the beach merely for reading a Dershowitz book.
During one Newsmax appearance this past weekend, Dersh insisted that aside from his tragic “cancellation” on the island, several unnamed residents have lamented to him that they can no longer see him doing public speaking events in the Vineyard.
“The library won't allow me to speak on Martha’s Vineyard, the Community Center, the major synagogue, all of them have cancelled me because I had the chutzpah to defend the Constitution on behalf of a president of the United States that they all voted against,” he groused. “People refuse to attend events if they know I’m gonna be there and that’s why several friends of mine have who have invited me for years to events in their home or concerts that they’ve sponsored have apologetically said: ‘We’re sorry we can’t invite you because if you come everybody will leave.’”
That segment, and the resulting ridicule, brought Dershowitz to the attention of New Yorker staff writer Isaac Chotiner. And even though Chotiner has the well-earned reputation of systematically dismantling his interview subjects with dry humor, razor-sharp quips, and biting questions, Dersh somehow agreed to chat with him. The conversation went just as one would expect.
And, of course, Dershowitz couldn’t stop talking about the Vineyard.
At one point, the famed attorney declared he was the “most popular speaker” in something called “the Chilmark Library series,” only for Chotiner to deadpan: “I can imagine.” Dershowitz then went on to claim the library first gave him the excuse that his “crowds were too big” as the reason they hadn’t recently booked him, adding that he asked them to limit the crowds.
“Can you imagine if Ed Sullivan had done that with the Beatles? It’s a ridiculous excuse,” Chotiner deadpanned.
Elsewhere, Dershowitz claimed he’s been “besieged with phone calls” from people complaining they’ve been denied the chance to see his speeches. (Of course, the local library director told Chotiner that “not one single person has contacted me to complain that they haven’t had a chance to hear Alan speak.”)
Yet, while all he’s done is air grievances about his lack of speaking invitations, Dersh has repeatedly insisted this isn’t actually about his “cancellation”—it’s about that silent majority of Dershowitz fans.
“I want to make it clear it’s not about me. I have a thick skin. It’s about the other people in Chilmark who want to hear my views, people who come here because they love the culture and they love going to the book fair,” he said. “They love going to the library events, to the community center. Now they can’t hear me at any of those places and see me.”
Still, even after getting the Chotiner treatment, Dersh has pressed on, more determined than ever to tell the world about the horrors of not getting booked for a library speech in the Vineyard.
Appearing on newly minted Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren’s show on Monday evening, the famed lawyer pivoted from talking about the Jan. 6 House committee hearings to the price he’s paid for his brave truth-telling.
“I have been punished severely. I can’t speak at the library at Martha's Vineyard,” he cried as Van Susteren appeared to stifle a yawn. “I have been silenced.”
The following afternoon, Newsmax gave him far more time to complain about his trials and tribulations.
While analyzing former Trump strategist Steve Bannon’s contempt case, the attorney connected his own experiences on the island to Bannon’s trial.
“That said, it’s an anti-Trump jurisdiction and the vast majority of people who live in the District of Columbia hate Trump,” Dershowitz declared. “Look, I know! I go through that. I live on Martha’s Vineyard. I couldn’t get a fair trial at Martha's Vineyard. I can’t even speak in the library at Martha’s Vineyard because I defended Trump. So don’t expect in the District of Columbia to get a fair jury trial.”
Moving on to his book, he fumed about being “blackballed” from the island’s Jewish cultural center and book fair. However, he once again insisted, he “has a thick skin” and the real “victims are the citizens of Martha’s Vineyard” who’ve been denied the opportunity to see him.
“They are being deprived of their First Amendment rights,” Dershowitz exclaimed.
His Tuesday afternoon grievance session eventually ended the same way as his Chotiner interview—with him recalling his public spat with Larry David while saying he can no longer stomach watching Curb Your Enthusiasm.
“And Larry David refuses to talk to me—he says I’m disgusting,” he stated. “You know, it turns out the Larry David you see on Curb Your Enthusiasm—that’s not an act! That curmudgeon is the real Larry David!”
Dershowitz dramatically added: “And I find it hard to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm because I’m seeing this character almost have a stroke—he was screaming at me, yelling at me. Wouldn’t let me have lunch! I mean, it’s much like the Kavanaugh experience, except so far nobody has tried to assassinate me. But don’t put any ideas in anybody's head!”
