Jussie Smollett - possible made up hate crime

[trip 13,386]

I'm not a D&D person but this seems like one of those conversations that is important for all.

 

If Jussie Smollett staged the whole event to draw attention to his(and other's) cause...then he really f*cked up on this.  He will be doing a great disservice to the very cause he claims to be fighting for.

 

Crying wolf is one thing.  To cry wolf at the top of your lungs while holding a sign that says "look at me" for all the world to see is f*cked up.

 

If he is making this up;  How the hell does one dig out of such thing?

 

To make up being the victim of a hate crime does nothing but stir a pot.  It sure as hell  doesn't help the cause.

 

[feckyerlife 3,295]

i would be ok if he suicides with help or not

[Femme Fatale 10,187]

I wouldn't hazard a guess as to the veracity yet, but if it is proven, the damage will be huge. If it is not proven, the accusation will be decried across the planet. As for the plausibility, I'd be lying if I had not considered the possibility that the attack had been faked, but that is not an accusation that one would ever make without evidence.

[Zello 11,162]

His career is probably over

[Hmmm nice bike 4,679]

38 minutes ago, Zello said:

His career is probably over

His role on Empire has been reduced drastically. He was supposed to have nine more scenes and a large musical number for the remainder of this season. Now most of it has been cut and the show is going to focus more on other characters.

 

If this indeed was a hoax, then I find it to be incredibly shameful. There are people who are victims of actual hate crimes, whether it's against them for their race, sexual orientation, or other reasons. But now, thanks to this story being so high profile, some people might be more quick to second-guess somebody who claims to be the victim of a hate crime. Someone could be a legitimate victim of an attack, and now people who might have already been a little homophobic or racist or whatever to begin with will probably think back to this story unless there's actual video proof (which there really wasn't with this case besides that one still image of guys you could hardly make out). It also makes the city look bad. Chicago is not "MAGA country" by a longshot, someone running around with a red MAGA hat is gonna stand out big time.

[Chiari 88]

This is just another (failed) incremental step in the classification of MAGA apparel as hate symbols. This became clear when that 16 year old kid was smeared all over national media for days. Now instead of deliberately omitting footage to give the portrayal of a hate crime we are just completely fabricating them. We all hate each other and there's no going back. 

[Eutyphro 2,862]

Hatecrime hoaxes aren't even that rare in the United States. I've read about many such stories, and even found a database of them here: http://www.fakehatecrimes.org/

In the increasingly tense political climate people who are mentally ill or who are looking for attention fabricate such events to generate attention. It's really pathetic, but it once more proves that most news generated outrage is fake, and that the news itself has become a business model that is largely based on such fake outrage. Hopefully soon there will be a tipping point where the news loses its power in determining what we are outraged about.
 

[Raavi 22,303]

Mental illness or not, he should be removed from the TV show as well. This is only fair since if the roles were reserved, he'd be fired on a mere whiff of racially charged subtext.

[Typhus 1,340]

I hate to be cynical, but I wonder if this whole exercise was so he could make money giving interviews to magazines and newspapers playing the part of a dignified victim.

Everyone knows Trump has a litany of faults and has courted bigoted elements, but I get the feeling some opportunistic people in the entertainment industry are longing for a McCarthy moment. A moment of genuine governmental oppression so they can dine out on it for years and retroactively publicize themselves as martyrs.

And that's not me taking a jab at their politics, it's me stating the simple fact that many in the entertainment industry are morally bankrupt. The very people who will champion the cause of women's rights will give a standing ovation to a pederast and rapist like Roman Polanski, because they lack genuine conviction, it's all just window-dressing for their career.

Had he not been caught in the act, this would have actually been a very lucrative career move for him.

[universetwisters 31,506]

I'm just surprised he didn't try to find actual white strangers who would make the attack more convincing as opposed to some black extras he knew from Empire.

 

I just wonder what he'll be up to after this whole thing blows over and he's served his time if he has to. Will he try to make a splash back into acting or be flipping burgers for the rest of his years?

[Smith John 4,859]

On 2/21/2019 at 5:20 PM, Typhus said:

Had he not been caught in the act, this would have actually been a very lucrative career move for him.

And that therein lies the very problem.

[DareYokel 6,017]

In before he writes a book about the whole deal and some asshole tries to make a movie about it. Even the dumbest sh*t can get sold in America.

[Smith John 4,859]

Race-bait pr0n is a very lucrative industry, after all.

[Mister Pink 9,595]

These kind of events really disappoint me, especially since I'm sure there's real victims of these types of crimes. It just undermines actual genuine victims.

 

I said that I believe in due process by principle. That means I believe that even for people that probably have done something terrible. But I can't be selective. It's got to be for everyone. I got downvoted on Reddit for saying that. Amazing how contentious that stance now is. My point is that with this outrage culture where people are just expected to believe incidences like this in absence of evidence and asking evidence is "victim blaming" and asking the victim to relive the horror. While I'm sympathetic to actual victims of crimes, this new culture of "don't question me, I'm a victim" or as some commentators more humorously put it people playing the "victim Olympics" fosters these kind of maniacal attention-whores. Like being an actor to begin isn't enough of a desperate cry for attention that you have to go do something so like this. I'm glad he got outed and I hope this deters people from doing something so dishonest in future. 

 

Apparently some nurses got fired too for improperly checking his medical reports. 

 

I hope he learns from this and is punished someway. I don't think his career should be ruined or anything like that. I just hope he knows what he did was extremely wrong and others too. 

 

[Raavi 22,303]

PLOT TWIST:  All charges against Smollett dropped

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47711535

[TheSpectre 2,037]

Friends in high places, I suppose. Facing 16 felony counts. Hmmm...

Was watching the news last night and they had someone on (can't remember his name), but he was saying Rahm Emanuel should apologize to Smollett.

[trip 13,386]

Absolutely crazy.

 

This is some crazy corruption.  Getting off, expunged, and sealed for forfeiture of bail and some wrist slapping.

 

Best crazy part is him still claiming innocence.  

 

It's a mess in Chicago.

[Hmmm nice bike 4,679]

20 hours ago, trip said:

It's a mess in Chicago.

And only now are other parts of the country starting to pay attention to this seriously. The "Chicago way" regarding overly-blatant political corruption isn't just a joke, it's been an open secret for a long time and nothing has ever really been done about it. It's taken a high profile case to blow this open. Now I believe the FBI and DOJ are looking into this

[universetwisters 31,506]

I mean even if he got all his charges dropped, his career is ruined. He's gonna be flipping burgers for the rest of his life, unless the powers above give him a break and let him star in a commercial for diarrhea medicine.

[universetwisters 31,506]

Chicago is filing suit against him. Yay!!!!?!?!?!

 

https://apnews.com/ecfb965afdf7480882b6d0c7fd5ce656