Some are still standing by Jussie Smollett, others are more measured and waiting to see what happens, and others are taking victory laps over the fact that a hate crime likely did not occur. Somehow the liberal media thinks this is appalling. Yes, please bash conservatives for celebrating that a horrible racially motivated attack didn’t happen. Is this for real?
Smollett is an actor on the Fox series “Empire.” He alleges that two white men attacked him on January 29 in Chicago. They punched him, threw bleach on him, and then tied a rope around his neck. Cue the progressive anti-Trump outrage—and it was loud and outright wrong.
The two individuals turned out to be Nigerian brothers who were allegedly paid by Smollett to attack him. They bought the rope used in the alleged assault; they were reportedly paid by the actor and held rehearsals. The two are now cooperating with the Chicago police. With these new developments, the Chicago police want a new interview with Smollett, who hasn’t made the time. Gee—could you wonder why? New York Times columnist Charles Blow said if Smollett actually faked this hate crime, he’s a total psychopath. Real Clear Politics had the clip and partial transcript:
JOHN AVLON, CNN HOST: Not that you can get inside his head, but he's the one raising this to a national element, which -- elevating it to a national conversation, which makes the possibility of it being a hoax that much more devastating.
CHARLES BLOW, 'NEW YORK TIMES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well listen, if Jussie has done what the Chicago police say he has done, it's not just that he's an actor, Brian. This is an insane person. This is -- this is a psychopath -- like -- and there's nothing in his history that suggests that he's a psychopath.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Well, why --
BLOW: That's why it's so hard for everybody -- that's why people are waiting, trying to figure out like please go back and interview him Chicago P.D. --
AVLON: Yes, got to do it.
BLOW: -- because we need to understand what's the motive because nothing -- I've met him one time. He was the sweetest -- it was just in passing at Essence Fest and I was with a girl with a college -- she's a big fan. And he -- she had to have a picture. He was the most gracious person and I think that that's the kind of feeling that people have about him. So if you did this, we need to know -- like, are you crazy? Like, are you -- did you like literally lose it because nothing is adding up about why he would do this?
So far, one theory is that he was mad that a racist letter with a white powder, later determined to be aspirin, sent to him didn’t get enough media attention (allegedly). Given the insanity of this story, it’s not shocking to think that he could’ve have sent this letter to himself. The other possible reason is that he was about to be written out of the show, or that his role was going to be reduced. Fox had strongly denied this when it was brought up, but in an ironic twist, after this possibly staged hate crime, Fox is going to reduce Smollett’s role in the series.
Fox isn't commenting on the TMZ report that Jussie Smollett's role is being reduced on "Empire." (Stark contrast to last week, when they pushed back immediately and forcefully on the notion that Smollett was being written out of the show.)
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) February 19, 2019
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