Hate Crime Or Hoax? Jussie Smollett Open Thread

In today’s environment of racially-charged leftist hate, it doesn’t take much for the media to be baited into a hysterical overreaction to a story that later proves to be fake news or in the worst cases, a hate crime hoax.

So when gay actor Jussie Smollet who stars in Fox’s hit television series “Empire” claimed that he was attacked on the streets of Chicago on a freezing cold morning by two men wearing MAGA hats who beat him up and left a rope around his neck, the reaction was predictable and the rush to judgment once again sought to portray all 63 million Americans who voted for President Trump as white supremacists or worse.

But things just didn’t add up for Smollet’s story which has a very fishy aroma about it. Not only was it bite-ass cold at the time of the alleged attack but Smollett who was at a Subway location managed to hang onto his sandwich despite the vicious beating by racist Trump supporters.

The complete lack of surveillance camera video that would back up his story is another red flag as is the refusal of both he and his manager to turn over their cellphones to the police so that they could perform a proper investigation.

Skeptics were quick to accuse the actor of perpetrating a hoax and his social media activity is peppered with anti-Trump diatribes but there is something very, very strange about this story and the folks over at PJ Media have an excellent analysis that is food for thought.

Via PJ Media, “None Dare Call it a Hoax: The Jussie Smollett Saga Continues”:

The bizarre case of Jussie Smollett continues to unfold with the police still investigating what Smollett insists was a “hate crime.”

Smollett tells the story of walking down the street in sub-zero temperatures and being attacked by two men wearing MAGA hats and screaming racial and homophobic slurs at him. Was this a hate crime?

Maybe it was. And then, maybe he wasn’t attacked at all.

The incident occurred in Chicago, a city torn by racial strife and massive distrust of the police. John Ziegler of Mediaite writes of how the investigation is unfolding:

Among other things, the police have made it very clear they have not yet found any proof of an attack, despite having almost all of Smollett’s movements on surveillance video. They have disclosed that Smollett would not give over his cell phone to verify his timeline of events. They even published photos of “persons of interest” that they had to know were going to be universally mocked for being obviously irrelevant.
In my view, none of those important revelations would have been made public in the way that they were, unless there was extreme suspicion within the police force that Smollett’s story was not fully accurate.

By extension, media figures would not be being told by their police sources, as I have been told is currently happening both routinely and with vigor, that the authorities are acting on the assumption that they will never find any evidence to fully substantiate Smollett’s story. This isn’t just happening via idle speculation either, the police are doing so with great specificity, even including an alternative theory for what really happened (current attempts to find the origin of the rope found around Smollett’s neck long after the event was over are believed to be the most likely game-changer, if there ever is one in this case).

In truth, the Chicago police are terrified of even hinting they doubt Smollett’s story. There is no major city in the U.S. where the cops are more distrusted by blacks than in Chicago. The police risk a riot if they let it be known they think Smollett is trying to hoax them.

Read the entire article HERE.

Another great article at The Unz Review also questions the official story as well as points out the myriad inconsistencies.

The following is excerpted from “The “Hate Crime” Against Jussie Smollett”:

Smollett is a gay black man who stars in the popular black television series Empire. He is also a rapper. Smollett claims he was beaten in the early morning on January 29 in Chicago by two white men in ski masks who recognized him as “that faggot Empire nigger.” His two alleged assailants knocked him down, tied a noose they just happened to have with them around his neck, and then poured an unidentified substance onto him. During the alleged assault, Smollett’s attackers proclaimed that downtown Chicago was “MAGA country.”

That’s a curious thing to say, considering Donald Trump only received 12.5% of Chicago’s vote in 2016 and the city is 31.7% non-Hispanic white. That’s not exactly MAGA country demographics. It’s also unlikely that violent Trump supporters would recognize any cast members from Empire and know important details about them.

This alleged hate crime was readily believed by the mainstream media, and Smollett was lionized as a noble victim. Unsurprisingly, this story seemed fishy right from the start. First, it was the contradictory reports that the Chicago Police didn’t know about the “MAGA country” remark. Then came the hunt for video evidence of the attack, which didn’t turn up any footage of the actual assault. The only thing that came from thousands of hours of camera footage on multiple streets that the police reviewed are two suspicious dark shapes walking on the opposite side of the street from Smollett.

Smollett was captured on video for all but sixty seconds. After the sixty seconds where he disappeared into an alley, Smollett reappears with a noose hanging around his neck like a tie. That’s an awfully short amount of time to suffer such a severe attack.

More fishy details have continued to emerge. Smollett’s manager claimed he was on the phone with his client during most of the attack and heard the “MAGA country” remark. That wasn’t initially in the police report, and, most suspiciously of all, Smollett and his manager refused to hand over their phone records to police.

Smollett decided to add another element to his story that reinforced the idea that the whole thing was a fabrication. As he returned to the stage after the supposed attack, Smollett bragged that he “fought the fuck back” against his attackers. That seems impossible considering his story and that he kept a cellphone in his hand throughout the entire assault.

Police provided another odd detail that undermined his account. According to authorities, Smollett was carrying and managed to protect a Subway sandwich throughout the brutal attack, and emerged with the undamaged sub in his hand when he reappeared on the surveillance footage.

To summarize, Smollett was brutally beaten in less than sixty seconds in a diverse, anti-Trump city. His violent, racist attackers knew he starred in a show that is not generally watched by people likely to be Trump supporters, or who would know his sexual orientation. They also somehow believe that their diverse, anti-Trump city is MAGA country. Additionally, in his own words, Smollett fought off his attackers while simultaneously pinned to the ground, talking on his cellphone, and holding onto a Subway sandwich.

Read the entire article HERE.

This one could be headed to the Chicago P.D.’s cold case files if the PJ Media article’s suggestion that authorities really do fear that a bloody race riot would erupt if the cops ended up accusing Smollett of being a hoaxster despite growing evidence that this is all bullshit.

Ok Deplorables, what do you think?