Tag Archives: Jussie Smollett

Corrupt intent in Smollett case? Just wondering

Let’s see what we have here in the case involving Jussie Smollett, the actor caught up in a growing controversy over a crime in which he was involved.

Smollett tells Chicago police that two white guys assaulted him, hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him, tied a noose around his neck and said he was in “Trump country”; they allegedly were wearing Make America Great Again hats.

The cops look into it, smell something fishy and then a grand jury issues a 16-count indictment alleging that Smollett — who is black and openly gay — paid two Nigerian brothers to orchestrate the attack; he paid them with a check, which authorities recovered. Smollett was charged with several felony counts of disorderly conduct and filing a false police report.

Then, mysteriously, prosecutors drop all 16 counts. They wipe the record clean. The files are sealed. Smollett is free and clear as if nothing happened.

Am I the only American who suspects some possible corrupt intent here? What in the world caused the prosecutors — who say they still believe Smollett did what they accused him of doing — to drop the whole thing?

Donald Trump says he plans to get the FBI and the Justice Department to look into this matter. That’s a good call. The folks in Cook County, Ill., need some answers to this bizarre turn of events. If the local authorities won’t provide it to them, then the feds have every reasonable right to look for answers and spill the beans to the public.

These kinds of attacks normally wouldn’t attract such attention. Except the victim/turned perp/turned victim again is a noted celebrity, a star on a major TV show.

It still smells fishy.

Smollett ‘hate crime’ story is inflicting some casualties

The Jussie Smollett Saga is inflicting some serious damage, regardless of how this story concludes.

Smollett is the openly gay African-American actor who said two men attacked him, declaring that he was in “MAGA Country’; Smollett said they assaulted him and hung a noose around his neck. Smollett stars in the Fox TV series “Empire.” The series producers have written Smollett out of the final two episodes of the current season; Smollett’s longer-term future with “Empire” remains unclear.

Then the police started sniffing around and they determined that Smollett orchestrated his own hate crime victimhood. Smollett is now charged with a fourth-degree felony of disorderly conduct.

The damage? It’s going to be inflicted on actual victims of hate crimes. Will actual victims of actual crimes be reluctant now to report them to the police? Will they fear the cops won’t believe them when they allege that someone has attacked them merely because of their race or religious faith or their sexual orientation?

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson seemed genuinely angry the other morning while he announced Smollett’s arrest. He is angry because of the time, money and assorted ancillary resources wasted on an allegedly phony hate crime.

The MAGA reference, of course, deals with Donald Trump, his signature slogan to “Make America Great Again.” To my mind, though, the Trump effect is a minor part of this story.

The bigger part of this saga deals with how the allegations against Smollett — who allegedly paid two brothers to assault him — will impact legitimate hate crime concerns.

Smollett, naturally, denies doing anything wrong. He stands by his initial complaint. The police, though, seem equally certain that he faked the attack.

I just fear what effect this story is going to have on future reports of actual hate crimes. My hope that it won’t inhibit such reporting is waging combat with that fear for the worst.

As for who to believe, I am leaning toward siding with the cops.

Connect these dots, if you can

I am having trouble connecting a few dots related to the Jussie Smollett arrest for allegedly orchestrating a hate crime committed against . . . himself!

Smollett is an actor currently performing on the TV series “Empire.” He reported in late January that two men assaulted him, tied a noose around his neck and said he was in “MAGA” country, meaning he was in a region that favored Donald Trump. Smollett, an openly gay African-American, reported the assault and the cops launched an investigation into the so-called hate crime.

Well, now we hear Smollett has been charged with filing a false police report. He paid two guys to assault him, according to the police detectives.

Oh, those dots I cannot connect?

The police say Smollett orchestrated the attack because he is dissatisfied with the salary he’s getting from Fox TV for his role on “Empire.” To which I say, simply: Huh?

Let me see how this plays out: An actor thinks he isn’t getting paid enough so he concocts a hate crime assault, thinking that as a victim of such an act he’s going to get more money?

How does that work?

This is a patently weird story.

Another entertainment career appears to have tanked

I’ll be totally candid: I had never heard of Jussie Smollett until the young man reported a few days ago that he had been the victim of a hate crime. I don’t watch “Empire,” so the actor slipped under my TV-watching radar.

It was in all the papers. Now I know far more about this guy than I care to know.

He has been accused of fabricating the incident and of paying two brothers to orchestrate a “crime” that the alleged “victim” made up.

I was struck by a couple of aspects of this morning’s announcement that Smollett had been arrested and taken into custody by the Chicago Police Department.

One was the absence of the word “allegedly” by the police superintendent, Eddie Johnson, who appeared to my eyes to be furious at what his detective division uncovered about Smollett’s supposedly phony involvement in this incident.

Smollett said someone attacked him and threw racial and homophobic slurs at him; Smollett, who is African-American, also is openly gay. The alleged attackers were supposedly wearing “MAGA” hats and passed themselves off as Donald Trump supporters.

The police superintendent also took pains today to say how much time, money, manpower and emotional energy was wasted by the phony accusation. Smollett had leveled a serious charge of a hate crime. The police took his complaint as seriously as it takes any such incident.

As I watched the press conference today, I was struck by the utter certainty in the voices of Johnson and the head of the CPD detective division. They believe they have solved this matter.

Jussie Smollett is presumed to be innocent. I get that. However, just as all the entertainment and media powerhouses who’ve been accused of sexual misbehavior also are presumed innocent, their careers are toast. I’m betting so is Smollett’s career.

To think that he supposedly set this “crime” up because he wanted more money for his acting gig on “Empire.” My strong hunch is that his entertainment income is about to dry up . . . rapidly!

And let us all hope that Smollett’s reported fakery will not hinder others from reporting actual hate crimes when they occur.

As for the brothers, it likely turns out they are the victims.