| | | | | Why did one of New York's most successful criminal defense lawyers feel up to representing the disgraced movie mogul? | | [ view in browser. add esquire@newsletter.esquire.com to your address book ] | | |  |  | | | | 'I'm Not the Morality Police': Inside Benjamin Brafman's Defense of Harvey Weinstein | | | Is Benjamin Brafman a bad man because he helps (allegedly) bad people? He thinks not. "I'm not the morality police," he tells me one afternoon several months ago at his firm, Brafman & Associates PC. "I'm a criminal-defense lawyer." But what if the client is Harvey Weinstein, the former film mogul now facing charges of sexual assault involving two women—and similar allegations from dozens more? Brafman leans back, places his palms on the table, and narrows his eyes, like I've just questioned Earth's roundness. "I've spent forty years trying to get to the top of my profession, and this is the most high-profile case in the United States," he says. "It's flattering to be picked by someone like him." Brafman, seventy, likes to be flattered. "Do you know Jay-Z's song about me?" he asks, seventeen minutes after we meet. The track, "Welcome to New York City," is actually by Cam'ron, but Hova provided a guest verse name-checking the attorney. In 1999, the budding entrepreneur was accused of stabbing a man he suspected of bootlegging his next album. Brafman landed him a sweetheart plea deal: three years' probation, zero days in prison. In his verse, Jay-Z raps, "Got Brafman defending me/'Cause New York'll miss me if I'm locked in the penitentiary." A picture of the two—Brafman's five-six frame rising to just above Jay's shoulder, even with the added inch from his signature crest of slicked-back hair—sits among dozens of mementos on top of a credenza. Framed images and awards cover the office, the corner one, on the twenty-sixth floor of a midtown Manhattan high-rise. Celebrity clients get prime wall real estate: There's Martin Shkreli, the self-styled Pharma Bro (securities fraud); Plaxico Burress, the Giants' star receiver (attempted criminal possession of a weapon); Dinesh D'Souza, the right-wing agitator (illegal campaign contributions). All either pleaded to lesser crimes or dodged the top charges. Sometimes, when the evidence is overwhelming, you hire Brafman just to cushion your fall. READ MORE | | | | |  |
| | | | | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Doesn't Have Time to 'Learn the Job.' Neither Did Shirley Chisholm. | | | | Ocasio-Cortez, like Chisholm before her, is driven by an urgency not typically found in American politicians. AOC faces similar criticism to that faced by Chisholm—the first black woman elected to congress—early in her tenure, and thus far seems to be approaching with same brashness Chisholm once exhibited. As women of color, their very presence in the halls of Congress has been an anomaly. It is not just that there have been institutional barriers to them getting in, but that these institutions have been deliberate in using their power to ensure the subjugation of women like Chisholm and Ocasio-Cortez. Now, as AOC takes up the mantle of this brand of politics in 2019, there is no telling what she can make happen. But it's clear she would rather do good work than "be a good soldier."" Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Real Fur is Bad for Animals. Fake Fur is Bad for the Earth. What the Hell Do We Do Now? | | | | Banning animal product in clothing is complicated. Brands, fashion houses, and even cities (notably, Los Angeles and San Francisco) are taking a hard stance on eliminating the production and sale of fur, citing consumer requests, animal cruelty, and sustainability standards. On one side, organizations like PETA and the Humane Society laud these designers' moves, noting that animals are tortured on every level of fur and leather production. On the flip side, the Fur Information Council of America (FICA) argues that faux furs are actually the greater environmental problem. With both in mind, it's time for consumers to question what their clothing is made from, how it's made, and where it goes once it's thrown out. It's time for brands start answering. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Two Fyre Festival Docs Show Very Different Sides of Poisonous Influencer Culture | | | | As the frantic social media reports made it back to civilization of a music festival gone horribly wrong, the Fyre Festival became a viral story. But after the social media firestorm faded, the Ja Rule and Billy McFarland brainchild had serious legal implications. This resulted in multiple multi-million dollar lawsuits and a federal criminal investigation. But what really happened at the ill-fated Fyre Festival and its shady creator? That's what two new documentaries aim to explore. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Music of True Detective Subtly Connects Every Season | | | | Music has always played a strong role in True Detective, which in its first two seasons, brought a highly stylized and menacing atmosphere to the crime thriller genre. According to T Bone Burnett, the sound of the show comes to him from the style of creator Nic Pizzolatto's writing. Esquire.com spoke with Burnett to discuss True Detective Season Three's incredible soundtrack (which includes a new song he wrote with Andrew Bird), unpack the meaning behind the show's specific sonic atmosphere, and learn how the music is the one thread that connects every season. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Glass Is a Middle Finger to the Superhero Genre | | | | Like M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable and Split before it, Glass is the complete antithesis of everything we expect from a film in this genre. It's a superhero movie for people who fundamentally reject the concept of a superhero movie. It's like the punk-rock comic-book story, but if the punk rock band got drunk and forgot half their songs. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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