Jussie Smollett attack was staged, police say
https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/jussie-smollett-attack-staged-1203140464/
This thing is in all directions. The sources who are saying it was staged are basing it on Jussie's character being written off the show. Fox is denying he was being written off. The two guys have been found with bleach in their home but one or two of them was an extra on the show. Chicago PD is rejecting the hoax claim and Jussie Smollett himself is suggesting the two guys in question are guilty of a legitimate attack.
So did Jussie Smollett organize these two guys to attack him and is now turning against them to save face?
Or was Jussie Smollett legitimately attacked by them?
Why would they commit a hate crime on a fellow black man? Nothing makes sense in this case.
shareBecause he's gay and there are a lot of homophobes out there.
shareWhy the bleach and the MAGA shout outs though.
shareSometimes its difficult to get into the minds of criminals. There's also the possibility they were trying to give themselves an alibi. Thats not to say these guys are necessarily guilty of the crime either. Its still too early to tell. I'm merely suggesting how it could be possible.
shareThe 2 men were let go yesterday and are no longer suspects.
shareSo we're back to square one.
I'm hoping there was no attack. It won't look good for Jussie and it sets the lgbtq community back when they are struggling to gain acceptance but at the same time its better than the realization that there are people so vicious out there that would commit such a crime.
The scary thing is that I bet there are quite a few 'progressive liberals' who would prefer that Jussie was attacked over this being a hoax.
I'm not one of them. Personally, I'd always prefer the possibility that a person was fabricating their abuse over the possibility that they'd actually been seriously abused by genuine bigots. Personally, I care much more about the welfare of women, black people, the LGBTQ community, children, and other vulnerable groups, to the frickin narrative.
But there are some weird people out there, claiming to be 'progressives', who will always prefer the narrative over the welfare of fellow human-beings.
Not necessarily back to square one. We don't know what the cops are looking into that the public isn't privy to. They're still treating him as a victim as of now.
I hope there wasn't an attack either but if he made all of this up or staged it, he made an attack on the public and should be accountable for it. I'm still not buying his story.
Viscous crimes happen every day, some without no apparent reason.
Firstly, you can only prove a positive. You can't, except in very limited circumstances, prove a negative, which is why I do not believe that 'false allegations' should be prosecuted except in rare circumstances.
To quote Donald Rumsfeld, a man I otherwise despise, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".
Secondly, what would be gained by prosecuting Jussie Smollett even if a court could establish beyond all reasonable doubt that he was lying? By prosecuting him, you risk turning him into a martyr (or maybe that's what some of you want...) By letting him get off easy, you entirely rob him of any of the power he sought as a professional victim. He wanted to be a victim, so the best response is to deny him his victimhood.
I'm so glad that you acknowledge this! I completely agree with your first paragraph. A perfect example is what happened to Brett Kavanaugh. This goes for Jussie too!
Maybe I'm not explaining myself clearly enough.
I only meant if it turns out that there is actual proof or admittance of his guilt should he be made accountable. Accountable for all the money/time spent/wasted on his case, all the cops and even FBI involvement, etc. He should have to pay that back if he is guilty.
There's a lot of crime in Chicago but because he's an "actor" he's getting special privileges that other cases would never get.
In my gut I don't believe him but that in itself isn't proof. Everyone's entitled to due process. I would never suggest anything less for him or anyone else.
Thank you sincerely for your reasonable response.
I do see what you and ultraviolet are saying about wasted police resources, and that if Jussie does turn out to be part of a hoax, one cannot say his lie is an entirely 'victimless crime'. Moreover, I sadly cannot deny the negative impact a 'cry wolf' story can have on society's overall attitude to (real) hate crime. It's entirely, and sadly, possible that the next time a case of homophobic and racist assault is alleged, more people will be inclined to roll their eyes and immediately assume that it is another lie, when the truth is that such hoaxes and false allegations are extremely rare.
That is why I'll repeat what I said to ultravioletx: the best thing we can possibly do with any case of abuse and hate crime is to treat each and every instance individually and on its own merits.
Still, I'll also re-emphasise the point I made, which I'm pleased to see you support: one can rarely prove a negative. Just because there is no solid evidence of a crime, it does not mean that a crime did not categorically take place; only that it is less likely to have done so.
Unless there is cast-iron evidence that Jussie is lying (i.e. he is identified on camera/by several credible witnesses as being at a completely different location to the one where the alleged incident took place at the relevant time, and his erroneous account cannot possibly be attributed to the effects of trauma or honest mistake, and to be fair, a serious assault can often scramble the most cogent of minds), he should not be prosecuted.
To use rape, a crime with a shockingly low conviction rate, as an example, the low conviction rate in no way means that the majority of alleged victims in these cases are lying. It just means that it is extremely hard to ascertain evidence beyond all reasonable doubt, and, thus, we should not deter victims from coming forward by criminalising unsuccessful accusers.
I agree with your post, Malkovich! 2 times in a row 😁
This board can get so heated so I don't post all that often.
It's terrible that people can't just discuss things without it getting all personal with insults, etc.
I thank you for being fair. 🙂
If its a hoax then the real victims are the police who wasted man hours and the people who are legitimately attacked who will now more likely be perceived as hoaxers by the right. I still think thats better than someone being assaulted by bigots though. But for anyone to say they were attacked by Smollett because he tried to take us for a ride is laughable and just goes to show how so many try to play the victim when they are not.
shareI still think thats better than someone being assaulted by bigots though.Good. Of course it is. That is precisely the way to think of this.
I'm not sure why you have such a problem with me since we agree 100% on these issues.
However, I'll add one caveat which is that we should treat each and every case on its own individual merits and NEVER generalise. Just because one case of racial/homophobic assault turns out to be a hoax, it doesn't mean the next case of racial/homophobic assault will turn out to be a hoax. And, likewise, just because one case of racial/homophobic assault turns out to be genuine, it doesn't mean the next case of racial/homophobic assault will be.
share
I agree with you Malkovich.
shareUltra:
The people ARE victims too! Isn't that OUR tax dollars used and wasted?!
It's also no secret Jussie hates Trump. It wouldn't be too unbelievable that he would make up such a story just to put a strike against Trump AND his supporters.
Only he did it in the wrong place (mega-liberal-democrat Chicago, in a very black and gay neighborhood) and wrong time (a polar vortex with like a -1,000 in the middle of the night). Not to mention the rest of his story is ridiculous.
I'm not saying crime can't happen under the strangest circumstances but his entire story is so over the top. Even people who live around there don't believe his cockamamie story.
I prefer people not get assaulted either!
Jussie was certain on GMA the other day that he knows those are the guys in the picture- yet we were originally told they were white, wearing MAGA hats. Nope. They're Nigerian brothers wearing face masks. He also claims the whole thing probably lasted 30 seconds but felt longer. Did you see how muscular these guys are?!!😳 If they wanted to hurt him, they definitely could have, especially ganging up on him when he didn't expect it.
He had a couple scratches but was recovered enough several days later to do a concert. 🙄
I mean... we're paying the police whether they investigate or not. I'm not going to sit here and complain too much because they had to bring in two guys instead of filling out paperwork. Keep in mind the truth isn't out yet and we're still on the hypothetical that its a hoax. Part of the process to get to the truth relies on exactly this type of police work.
Yes if it turned out we were told two guys who don't exist committed a crime its still very wrong. Its still nothing compared to what Alex Jones does on a daily basis regarding pedophilia rings and crisis actors. Alex Jones got deplatformed for it but you hardly see anyone saying to throw him in jail. There are wayyy more voices saying he should be put back on Youtube and freedom of speech and all that crap. Double standards at its finest when a leftist engages in fake news.
Well I am not someone who listens to Alex Jones, (I don't know anyone who does unless they do but don't talk about it). I think he's a quack. That's not to say he can't be right about some things but he's certainly no one I personally trust. However, I don't think he should be in jail for expressing opinions. We do still have a first amendment, don't we? Sometimes it's hard to tell.
We shall wait and see what happens as far as Jussie. I don't think he's being honest but that's just my opinion. I just hope they get to the bottom of it.
The CPD better hope Jussie is lying or they are utterly screwed.
shareWhy?
shareBecause if Jussie was legitimately attacked he could sue the shit out of them for switching their investigation.
shareDid they switch it though? They're still reporting that that they still consider him a victim.
shareGuglielmi's own words. “We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the ‘Empire’ case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation.”
shareI did read about him paying those brothers some $4,000 to do this so...
Not looking good for Jussie.
There also could have been some bad blood between these guys and Smollett from their time together on the set of the show.
share... are you aware of current crime statistics?
share