Entertainment

BBC Apologizes After Bringing On Jeffrey Epstein’s Victim-Blaming Lawyer As ‘Impartial Analyst’ Of Ghislaine Maxwell Verdict

Gross. Just gross.

The BBC is apologizing after bringing on a “legal expert” to talk about the Ghislaine Maxwell verdict — without mentioning he’s the former lawyer of her partner Jeffrey Epstein AND, this part is particularly important, ONE OF THE MEN ACCUSED OF PARTICIPATING IN THE SEX TRAFFICKING RING!

Alan Dershowitz made the rounds after Ghislaine was found guilty of five charges for her role in Epstein’s underage sex trafficking ring, giving interviews on the UK news outlet AND on Fox News. While he was ostensibly there to give his legal opinion, he was really using the time to defend himself and attack his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

Related: Prince Andrew’s Lawyers In ‘Emergency Talks’ After Ghislaine Maxwell Guilty Verdict

On both platforms he noted that the prosecution selectively didn’t use Giuffre as a witness, choosing instead to focus on the stories four other victims. He said that was because the government knew she was lying and therefore wouldn’t make a good witness. On the latter he even suggested she should be prosecuted because the witness known as “Carolyn” testified that after being trafficked herself at 17, Giuffre then recruited her when she was only 14. Dershowitz mused:

“The interesting question is who else should be prosecuted…. One of the women [in the trial] testified she was 14 or 15 years old and she was brought to Jeffrey Epstein for money by Virginia Giuffre who was well over the age of consent. Giuffre then, according to the testimony at the trial, got naked, had sex with Jeffrey Epstein in order to facilitate her having sex with Epstein. So Giuffre, under the theory of the prosecution, is guilty as well…”

He said the government didn’t use her as a key witness, despite her being one of the first to come forward because they “simply didn’t believe her.”

See the problem here? Giuffre, who is currently suing Prince Andrew for sexual abuse, is the one who claims Dershowitz himself also had sex with her while she was one of Epstein’s sex slaves.

So Dersh isn’t exactly impartial here. He has skin in the game. He’s not just victim blaming as a reflex, making his accuser look bad actually helps him personally. And yet he’s being brought on for his opinion? Oof.

On Fox News it makes sense. He’s also one of Donald Trump‘s lawyers, so he’s practically part of the family there. But the BBC appearance was particularly egregious because they didn’t even mention the fact he represented Epstein, that he had helped the billionaire pedophile get that infamous “sweetheart deal” that protected his co-conspirators, that he himself was accused of participating in the sexual abuse. WTF were they thinking?!

Enough of the BBC’s audience knew the case well enough to cry foul. After a few hours of backlash, the news agency tweeted an apology, stating:

“Last night’s interview with Alan Dershowitz after the Ghislaine Maxwell verdict did not meet the 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.”

We have news for you, BBC, you still didn’t make the “relevant background” clear to your audience. This very apology should have made clear exactly what the conflict of interest was — and how incompetent and/or complicit the decision to run with him as “an impartial analyst” really was.

Virginia Giuffre, the woman who Dersh wants so badly to discredit, also had a response to the verdict. So we’re going to let her have the last word. She wrote on Twitter:

“My soul yearned for justice for years and today the jury gave me just that. I will remember this day always.

Having lived with the horrors of Maxwell’s abuse, my heart goes out to the many other girls and young women who suffered at her hands and whose lives she destroyed.

I hope that today is not the end but rather another step in justice being served. Maxwell did not act alone. Others must be held accountable. I have faith that they will be.”

Here’s hoping they’re held accountable — and not, you know, put on TV to just kind of weigh in.

[Image via BBC/MEGA/WENN.]

The post BBC Apologizes After Bringing On Jeffrey Epstein's Victim-Blaming Lawyer As 'Impartial Analyst' Of Ghislaine Maxwell Verdict appeared first on Perez Hilton.