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Was the Jussie Smollett Story a Hoax?
Several weeks ago, during the coldest snap Chicago has ever experienced, detectives were busy trying to solve what would have been the crime of the year: an actor on the television show Empire was attacked with bleach and a noose, out in freezing cold temperatures in the dead of the night. His attackers reportedly were screaming about his race (he’s black) and his sexual orientation (he’s gay) while declaring Chicago (yes, Chicago) to be “MAGA country.”
Immediately, the attack was decried by politicians, fellow actors, etc. A few examples:
On account of potential deletions, here are a few screenshots of tweets from politicians: pic.twitter.com/7WASdxN19w
— Alex Macias (@AspConservative) February 15, 2019
— Alex Macias (@AspConservative) February 15, 2019
— Alex Macias (@AspConservative) February 15, 2019
The account above has dozens more screenshots along the same lines (click the thread and you can scan more).
The story, as implausible as it sounded to most thinking Americans, started falling apart. Smollett was reluctant to hand over his phone records, and despite being a city covered with cameras, there wasn’t a single one in the area that caught the attack. Some of the strangest elements were the fact that Smollett kept the noose around his neck half an hour after the attack, and that he managed to keep holding onto his Subway sandwich, purchased before his attack but present when police questioned him later.
Tonight a local reporter with ABC reported,
BREAKING: Multiple soucres tell @ABC7Chicago Eyewitness News Jussie Smollet and the 2 men who are being questioned by police staged the attack – allegedly because his character was being written out of the show Empire.
— Rob Elgas (@RobElgasABC7) February 15, 2019
The police department are disputing the reporting,
NEW: Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson called @ABC7Chicago tonight to say Jussie Smollett is considered a victim and the police investigation is on-going.
— Rob Elgas (@RobElgasABC7) February 15, 2019
It sounds like folks within the police department may have leaked a theory too soon. Time will tell.
But if Smollett did indeed concoct this story out of whole cloth, he should face the same consequences as his would-have-been perpetrator. Fabricating hate crimes should carry the same penalty as committing them; because now other victims of actual crimes have an even more uphill battle to being believed. And if the story is indeed fabricated, it’s clear Smollett did something particularly damaging: he decided to create a story that wouldn’t just make it harder for victims of hate crimes to be believed, but would also increase tensions in a country and in a city that cannot withstand more fuel on our societal bonfire of anger and resentment. That’s a crime against most Americans, and it’s one that nobody should take lightly.
Published in Culture
Hey ! They did only the work Americans wouldn’t do.
I don’t know. It’s not like a wifebeater winter jacket makes any kind of sense.
Its like I always say, the people who really hate African-Americans are Africans who live in America.