In light of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s recent death, high profile defense attorney and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz was forced to cancel a mock trial in which he planned to defend Biblical figures against accusations of child trafficking.

After the event was canned on Wednesday, Dershowitz, who was closely tied to Epstein both personally and as the sexual predator’s former legal counsel, said that he will still participate in an upcoming mock trial at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in New York, but will be debating a less controversial topic.

“We’ll pick a subject that’s a little less provocative considering the circumstances,” Dershowitz told CNBC, before adding that the cancellation decision was made “in consultation with me and the others.”

An advertisement for the event, which would have been held on November 17, billed the mock trial as a conversation on if the brothers of the Biblical character Joseph should have been held “accountable for their crimes” after they sold Joseph as a child “slave to the traveling Midianites,” according to Jewish Insider.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie was also set to be a part of the People vs. Joseph’s Brothers; he was billed as the lead prosecutor looking into Joseph’s brothers’ crimes, while Dershowitz was put in place to defend them.

Much of Dershowitz’s career has been dedicated to defending very high profile men accused of murder and rape, including Epstein, Hollywood bigwig Harvey Weinstein, former NFL star O.J. Simpson, and British socialite Claus von Bülow.

On Saturday, Epstein was found dead in his federal jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. However, Dershowitz, who helped broker Epstein’s sweetheart plea deal in 2008 when law enforcement officials first looked into his relations with minors, is still caught up in the Epstein scandal, as he has also been accused of rape by one of Epstein’s most vocal victims — a claim that Dershowitz has repeatedly denied.

[featured image via John Lamparski/Getty Images for Hulu)

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