Festivus Behind Bars: Holiday Celebrated on "Seinfeld" Has Prison Following, Too

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CBS/AP) If, by chance, pop culture is the deity you worship, then perhaps you, too, observe the holiday of Festivus - just like one California prison inmate who used the "Seinfeld" tv-holiday as his reason for refusing to eat salami.

And that's no baloney.

Please, allow us explain...

Malcolm Alarmo King, a 38-year-old convicted drug dealer and inmate in Orange County, Calif. managed to finagle salami-free kosher meals, after his attorney cited the "Seinfeld" holiday of Festivus as his religious belief. The Orange County Register reported Monday that King asked for the kosher meals to maintain his physique.

Orange County sheriff's officials reserve such meals for inmates with religious needs, so a judge demanded a religious reason for King to get the salami-less repasts.

In response, King's attorney, Fred Thiagarajah, cited his client's devotion to Festivus - the made-for-tv holiday celebrated on Jerry Seinfeld's longtime hit show with an aluminum pole, and the all-important airing of grievances.

A sheriff's spokesperson says that inmate King, the Festivus devotee, did indeed get his meals sans salami for two months - but then the county got the judge's order thrown out in another court.

And you thought Seinfeld was a show about nothing?