Jussie-Smollett-attack

Empire star Jussie Smollett has been charged by Chicago police with filing a false police report. The charge is a felony meaning that Smollett is facing a serious prison sentence.

The charges against Smollett now confirm what many suspected about the hate crime he alleged he had been a victim of. He claimed on January 29th he was attacked by two men who “poured an unknown liquid” on him and put a noose around his neck while hurling racist and homophobic insults and saying “this is MAGA country”.

His account was believed immediately by many mainstream media outlets and Democratic politicians who claimed this was evidence of the hate Trump had fostered in America. Trump was even drawn into saying about the matter “I think that’s horrible. It doesn’t get worse.”

When holes began to appear in his story Smollett went on ABC’s Good Morning America program to say how “pissed off” he was that his claim was being doubted.

Late last week we learned that Chicago Police were questioning two suspects, two brothers of Nigerian descent who had a “relationship” with Smollett with one of them having worked with him on the Empire show.

The testimony of these brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo before a grand jury was critical in the charges being laid against Smollett. The brothers have further alleged that Smollett faked a threatening letter he received before the attack which called him a “black fag” and was upset it did not receive enough attention.

There is now a lot of anger at Smollett across the political divide for staging the attack, wasting police resources and further poisoning America’s current toxic body politic. Los Angeles-based civil-rights activist Najee Ali held a press conference earlier this week calling for the arrest and prosecution of Smollett, and this has been echoed by other civil rights leaders, including Al Sharpton.

Hate crime hoaxes have become commonplace in the Trump era with the mainstream media usually reporting the initial claims unquestioningly. The Daily Caller took the time to compile a compete list of hate crime hoaxes since Trump was elected President.

It was reported that Smollett carried out the hate crime hoax as a way to generate enough public sympathy so his character would not be written out of Empire. It would appear with the hoax exposed that is exactly what the Fox Network will do. Fox is reportedly now considering removing him from production of the show in light of the charges against him.

It is clear from Smollett’s elaborate orchestration of this hate crime hoax that he is a somewhat troubled person. It also demonstrates how alluring being a victim has become in modern day America as a way to generate sympathy, publicity and fame for yourself.

Let us hope that this high profile hoax being so publicly exposed leads to a media rethink and more journalistic diligence when such hate crimes are alleged in the future

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