The Jussie Smollett Verdict (Yawn)
This past week the most utterly predictable thing happened –- Jussie Smollett was found guilty on five of the six counts brought against him in the case involving his alleged attack on January 29, 2019. The sentencing phase of the trial is likely months away, although there is already doubt that he will face any jail time.
I’ve put off writing about this, weighing different angles I could discuss. I dragged my feet, found lots of other things to busy myself, all the while wondering why I was having a bout of writer’s block over what should be an easy piece.
And then it hit me –- this story is incredibly boring.
What Smollett did was one of the dumbest self owns I’ve ever seen, one that was meant to advance his career but instead cost him it. The city of Chicago has announced its plans to sue Smollett for the $130,000 it spent on investigating his allegations, and the Osundairo brothers he paid to be his accomplices have also announced their plans to sue.
The details of the plot between Smollett and the Osundairo brothers have been public knowledge ever since they confessed the details to the Chicago police department. And, obviously, Smollett’s story of an attempted lynching by MAGA thugs in Chicago whilst on his way to Subway at 2 AM on one of the coldest nights on record strained credibility. It didn’t take a jury trial to uncover that this “hate crime” was a hoax.
Of course, a bunch of people voiced their support for Smollett on social media –- what else were they to do in January 2019? To say nothing or to question the validity of his story would have been social media suicide. Something that has been lost in the almost three (!) years since this incident took place is how heated the conversation around race was, and how Trump supporters specifically were racists. Smollett cynically played into the zeitgeist to attempt to heighten his own profile by playing on those assumptions.
Yes, the same people who lined up to support Smollett when he first made his accusations are nowhere to be found now. Did you think they would be? Did you think apologies would be issued? Why would you expect someone to apologize for something which they still believe, that Trump supporters would totally try to lynch a black man if they thought they could get away with it?
I’ve seen a few half-hearted attempts by the media to spin the verdict into a racial justice story but even they don’t seem to have their hearts in it. The LA chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement seems to be OK with Smollett playing them, however.
There is simply nothing new to discuss here. Smollett is going to pay for his stupidity with his career and his money, nobody will perform any sort of introspection on how easily their movement can be exploited, and the beat will go on.
So on to the next one.