Conservative commentator Ann Coulter dismissed all hate crimes Thursday in the wake of Chicago police accusing “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett of staging an attack on himself.
“Alright, this particular hate crime turned out to be a hoax, but let’s remember, ALL OF THEM are hoaxes,” Coulter tweeted.
Alright, this particular hate crime turned out to be a hoax, but let’s remember, ALL OF THEM are hoaxes. #Smollett
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 21, 2019
Chicago police allege Smollett wrote a threatening letter to himself, and when it didn’t gain the amount of attention he wanted ,he paid two brothers to fake an attack against him last month. Smollett claimed the two men yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him, tied a noose around his neck, and poured bleach on him.
Police said the two brothers told them Smollett concocted the hate crime because he was unhappy with his salary on the Fox series.
“‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and racism to promote his own career,” Eddie Johnson, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, said in a news conference Thursday.
Smollett was arrested early Thursday on suspicion of filing a false report about a hate crime, which is punishable by up to three years in prison under Illinois law.
“Bogus police reports cause real harm,” Johnson said. “They do harm to every legitimate victim who is in need of support by police and investigators as well as the citizens of this city. … My concern now is that hate crimes will now publicly be met with a level of skepticism that previously didn’t happen.”
[Read more: Chicago cops fume over Jussie Smollett dragging city ‘through the mud’]
