Jussie Smollett, the biracial homosexual actor who appears on the television show Empire, was not the victim of a hate crime. He was, Chicago’s chief of police said this morning, just another hate hoaxer.
Smollett, who claimed that two Trump supporters beat him up and put a noose around his neck, surrendered to cops this morning (booking photo shown) and was charged with disorderly conduct. He appears in court later today.
Why make up such a story? He wanted a pay raise.
“Shameful” and “Despicable”
Police chief Eddie Johnson told reporters this morning that Smollett was “dissatisfied with his salary.”
Johnson said Smollett paid the now famous Nigerian brothers “$3,500 to fake the attack in the 300 block of East North Water Street around 2 a.m. Jan. 29,” the Chicago Tribune reported. “Detectives have the check for the money.”
The chief said Smollett’s fairy tale was “shameful,” and “wondered how an African-American could set up a racist attack for a ‘publicity stunt.’”
“Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career,” Johnson said. “It’s shameful. It’s just despicable.”
The remarkable arc of the story provides yet another lesson for future hate hoaxers. In the age of video surveillance and electronic records and Twitter, pulling off a scam is nearly impossible. Particularly for an amateur scammer.
Smollett’s tale began with the story that he received a letter on January 22 with the ominous return address, “MAGA” — Make America Great Again. Amusingly, his executive producer donned gloves to open the letter, which contained this note in cut-out letters, such as those in a ransom note: “You will die black f*g”. Even better for the story, the Tribune noted in its timeline, the envelope contained white powder that turned out to be crushed acetaminophen.
A week later, Smollett claimed two white guys wearing MAGA hats attacked him on his way back to his apartment after a 2 a.m. munchies run to Subway. “This is MAGA country,” the two improbably shouted in majority-black Chicago. They hit him, he alleged, and put a noose around his neck. Chicago police couldn’t find surveillance video that depicted the attack. They did find video with two shadowy figures.
Outrage ensued. But few if any of those who expressed it bothered to ask whether anyone should believe that two white guys, wearing MAGA hats, were running thither and yon in Chicago hunting, in subzero temperatures, for a black man to assault.
Two of the most outspoken voices were presidential candidates and Democratic Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.
Huffed Harris, Smollett “is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know…. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.”
Booker conjured images of night-riding Klansmen wreaking havoc in the City with the Big Shoulders: “The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching.”
On February 14, as doubts about the story began to surface, Smollett told Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts that lying about such a horrible thing would be counterproductive, and the same day, police interviewed the now-famous Nigerian brothers. Media, meanwhile, openly claimed Smollett’s story might be a hoax.
Two days later, “a law enforcement source” told the Tribune that police were “investigating whether Smollett paid the two brothers to stage an attack, following up on information provided by the two.” Smollett, meanwhile, insisted he was the victim of a racial attack and said “he has been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth.”
Well, yeah, his story was “further from the truth,” as the police chief said this morning.
Pols Silent
Booker, Harris, and the rest of the elites have been silent ever since evidence surfaced a few days ago that Smollett lied. “The facts are still unfolding” Harris sheepishly said. “I’m gonna withhold” judgment, Booker said, until facts are in.
Given the police chief’s statement, Smollett’s only recourse to avoid further humiliation is a guilty plea. And then he should shut up about injustice for the rest of his life.
Question: Will Fox end his television career with as much speed as ABC pink-slipped Roseanne Barr for a “racist” tweet?
Photo: AP Images
