Posted: 21 February 2019 at 2:09am | IP Logged | 1
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‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett charged with disorderly conduct after filing allegedly false police report
This has been an evolving story from Day 1. Many questioned its veracity, others jumped on people for even daring to question it, and it's been a mess for nearly a month.
But now the truth is coming out in large part because of the effort of the Chicago PD as well as news agencies doggedly pursuing a story that just didn't feel "right" from the outset.
I'm willing to hold final judgement on this story until everything is out in the open, but it's felt fishy from the outset. Smollett claimed bleach was used in the attack on him, but he has no burns nor explanation as to why he wasn't burned. Nothing consistent with a bleach attack. Yes, I know it's not acid, but if you've ever spilled bleach on your skin you know it affects you with welts and red skin fairly quickly. Smollett didn't release his phone or his records and when he eventually did, they were heavily redacted. His explanation was that he didn't want private numbers given to police. Weird.
Then news came of collusion with brothers who had been a part of Smollett's series EMPIRE in some way, shape or form and had also worked out with him. Brothers who have said that they were paid by Smollett to work with him to stage the entire "attack".
Finally, there was the letter. Apparently a racist, homophobic letter had been sent to Smolett prior to the purported attack that threatened his life. Various magazines had been used to cut out letters to form the sentences and a white powder, later identified as aspirin, was included. It's since been reported to be one he sent to himself or paid the brothers to send to him. When that didn't get enough pop or buzz, the idea of an actual attack was formulated.
What does all this mean? Why is every news agency covering it? Why should we care?
We should care because, if true, it's a person who used the cover of a hate crime to get buzz around his name. We should care because, if true, his false claim of a hate crime is going to negatively affect every single hate crime report in the near term. People will naturally be more skeptical of actual reported hate crimes because one person tried to game the system to his advantage. In the long term, it's going to be harder for people of his stature (let alone those not so fortunate) to claim a hate crime has been committed against them simply because people will be more apt to believe they're doing it to gain something rather than accept that anyone, rich or poor, is susceptible.
In short, if what Smollett is charged with turns out to be true then, I'm sorry, his career should be in ruins and his financial future uncertain. He wasted valuable time and resources from a police department that obviously has a lot on its plate. He also negatively affected the lives of so many actual future hate-crime victims who may not be taken as seriously as they would have had he never concocted his plan to game the system for his own reward. Smollett can tout his credibility with numerous charity groups all he wants, but at the end of the day it seems his decision to promote himself ahead of all of that is really what's in his heart...again IF the charges filed today prove to be true.
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