Alan Dershowitz Is Losing His Pierogi War
At 86 years old, Alan Dershowitz is learning that his actions have consequences. The famed defense attorney, whose clients have included O.J. Simpson, Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, and, perhaps most famously, Jeffrey Epstein, is currently waging war on a pierogi stand on Martha’s Vineyard because it dared to refuse him service. He says it’s antisemitism, while the owners of the pierogi stand say they don’t want to sell food to someone who defended known sexual abusers.
Wait, what?
This all started last week, when Dershowitz went to the West Tisbury farmers’ market and tried to buy six pierogi at Good Pierogi while he waited for his freshly squeezed orange juice. In a 30-minute video titled “Bigoted vendor @ Martha Vineyard Farmer’s Market refuse [sic] to sell to me over political views. Suing,” Dershowitz shared his version of events.
“I went there and I said, ‘Oh, can I have six pierogi?’ And he said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Oh, you’ve run out of pierogi? Too bad.’ ‘No, no, no, we have plenty of pierogi. I just won’t sell them to you,’” Dershowitz recounted. He continued on and said that the person behind the counter (Krem Miskevich, who uses they/them pronouns) said they wouldn’t sell him pierogi because they didn’t approve of his politics or who he has represented.
In his video, Dershowitz assumed that Miskevich probably didn’t approve of him defending Trump during his impeachment trial or his proud Zionism. He said that the week prior, he had been wearing a shirt around the farmers’ market that read “Proud American Zionist,” and Miskevich had “looked at it strangely.” Dershowitz called the whole thing “pure McCarthyism” and said that he intended to “take legal action against the farmers’ market to ensure they only have booths by people who will sell to everybody.” To our knowledge, he has not yet filed a suit.
Dershowitz has apparently not considered that his prior representation of Epstein might also have something to do with this. Dershowitz represented the late financier in 2008, negotiating a plea deal that granted him immunity from any federal charges related to the sexual abuse of minors. Instead, Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18 and served a shockingly relaxed 13-month sentence.
Anyway, on Wednesday, Dershowitz returned to the farmers’ market to ask for pierogi again “in the interest of keeping the island together.” In a video posted by the Martha’s Vineyard Times, he told Miskevich that he didn’t want a situation to arise in which there were “two pierogi stands, one for anti-Zionists and one for people who will sell to everybody.” While he did this, a crowd gathered around the confrontation started chanting, “Time to go.” According to the Vineyard Gazette, the lawyer offered Miskevich a copy of his book The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies, inscribed with the note “Please learn the truth.” Miskevich did not accept the book. The local outlet also reported that Dershowitz was handing out flyers that claimed Miskevich was an antisemite.
What does the pierogi vendor say?
In a statement posted to the pierogi stand’s Instagram account, Miskevich clarified that the Epstein of it all is, in fact, the reason Dershowitz is being denied dumplings.
“When [Dershowitz] came to our booth, I experienced a surge of emotion,” Miskevich wrote. “As a chef, I love to share what I cook with the public, regardless of who they are. In this case, what was in the forefront of my mind was the fact that this was the high-profile attorney who represented several sexual predators and abusers including Jeffrey Epstein.”
Miskevich added that they “personally know too many sexual-abuse survivors” and felt that selling to Dershowitz was “the equivalent to supporting his decisions and statements.” The chef also noted that they are Jewish and have immediate family who live in Israel.
Is Dershowitz still trying to buy pierogi?
In a way, yes. Dershowitz has been yammering about being “canceled” by the Martha’s Vineyard community for years now, and it never really seems to work out for him. Nevertheless, he continues to spend his summers there. Apparently, he won’t be returning to the pierogi stand this week. In a text to Semafor reporter Maxwell Tani, Dershowitz said he was “heading to Israel,” where he believes “they will sell me better pierogi.”
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