Ken White is an attorney in Los Angeles who spends a lot of time on Twitter as Popehat. I don’t always agree with Popehat but he’s pretty helpful about offering legal explainers for current news topics and he also helps people dealing with first amendment issues find attorneys when they are needed, which is a pretty solid thing to do in my book. White is not a big fan of celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti and has been especially critical of his recent attempt to file bankruptcy for his law office. It started with a comment by a Berkeley professor which caught Avenatti’s attention:

Your jealousy is absolutely laughable. You mean like an attorney with over $1 Billion in verdicts and settlements as lead counsel? You mean one that is currently the Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year? You mean… Let’s compare results rocket scientist. — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 14, 2019

Popehat then weighed in calling Avenatti a bad actor:

Hi. This is Twitter. Also, a profession's buffoons and bad actors should be openly mocked, pour encourager les autres. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

And that’s when Avenatti went off and Popehat replied by mentioning some of his recent legal moves:

My results are I have never cost my client three hundred thousand dollars by filing an inane SLAPP suit against Donald Trump. Nice to meet you. I also have never filed for bankruptcy after consenting to an order saying that I could not file for bankruptcy. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

It continued with snarky insults being traded:

You may want to consider being more solicitous of criminal defense lawyers. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

And for a moment that seemed to be the end of it (but boy was it not the end of it):

[He had me blocked, then unblocked me to insult me to the best of his modest ability, then re-blocked me. It's like dating all over again.] — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

Because then it seemed Avenatti took things to the next level:

/2 Michael was extremely angry at me. Michael explained that I am a nobody, a coward, a pansy, a Negative Nancy (sic), jealous, piece of shit, asshole. This was over the course of five minutes or so. He ranged from mildly to very agitated. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

/4 High point of the call in my view: Avenatti: I'M LIVING RENT-FREE IN YOUR HEAD Me: Well, it would have to be rent-free, wouldn't it. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

/6 Mr. Avenatti expressed an interest on going on the show, @jbarro. I told him he would be welcome. Also said he wanted to meet me face to face, and wanted to debate me about the issues, but not about "private stuff," like his bankruptcy. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

/8 Mr. Avenatti finished by declaring that he had decided to notice me, GAME ON, and he was going to dig through everything I've ever done and publicize it. Okay. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

/10 Coda: I was unable to convey to Mr. Avenatti that most people would not find this behavior normal. pic.twitter.com/QwtqquT110 — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

Avenatti does seem to have a short fuse so the idea that he would do this doesn’t exactly shock me. But here’s the 3rd act twist to this story: Avenatti claims it wasn’t him on the phone.

So you're saying there won't be phone records of a roughly 5-8 minute call from a number starting with 949 and ending in 8 to my office line? — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

Yep – he got played. How embarrassing. — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 14, 2019

Chris Hayes stated the obvious:

Chris, he’s always been this way, & your buddies on the cable news networks refused to see it for more than a year — Gerald (@Global_Barista_) March 14, 2019

Someone else chimed in that Avenatti did indeed have a number like the one described and Avenatti replied by screencapping a DM…?

So can the entire internet. Ground breaking. But thank you for the compliment Renato: pic.twitter.com/oRuIMSuCNm — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 15, 2019

Mariotti then suggested he could start talking if Avenatti wanted to play that game:

Yes, but are YOU a Negative Nancy? — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 15, 2019

So did he call Popehat? Well, Avenatti does seem pretty worked up:

When you're not mad online. pic.twitter.com/FkwPQ0OduO — Asher Langton (@AsherLangton) March 14, 2019

And he’s apparently done this before:

ahem no, no, nothing like that. Such behavior would be totally out of character. pic.twitter.com/1ywjIeqCvB — J. L. Ghostman (@SenatorGhostman) March 14, 2019

So here’s the TL;DR summary:

Today Michael Avenatti unblocked me to insult me, reblocked me, called me, unblocked me to deny that he had called me, then blocked me again. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 14, 2019

But are you really sure?

Yes. Despite the fact that he's admitted to doing this before, it sounded like him, it was from his number, he used the exact same language he used in a DM to me moments before, and it happened at the same time he was yelling at me on Twiter, it could totally be a big hoax. — RentFreeHat (@Popehat) March 15, 2019

I know who I believe but your mileage may vary.