Actor Jussie Smollett has been arrested and charged with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report claiming he was the victim of a vicious hate crime.
“Jussie Smollet is under arrest and in custody of detectives,” chief communications officer of Chicago Police Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement released Thursday morning. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson accused him of slapping ordinary Chicagoans in the face after the Windy City had embraced him.
If proven guilty, Smollett isn’t the only person who’ll come away from this entirely bizarre episode with a badly, perhaps irrevocably, damaged reputation. Don’t forget the 2020 Democratic hopefuls who are now urging caution, despite initially rushing to support the actor and his absurd claims without hesitation.
[Related: CNN berates Kamala Harris, Cory Booker for jumping to conclusions on Jussie Smollett]
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., for example, was asked this week for her reaction to news reports alleging the police believe Smollett staged his own “hate crime.”
“I still don’t know the facts of what happened and so I will wait to find out the facts before I make another statement,” she said. That’s funny, considering she had no problem commenting on the alleged assault despite a glaring lack of facts and corroborating evidence, and frankly non-credible allegations about an attack in subzero temperatures at 2 a.m.
On Jan. 29, Gillibrand’s Twitter account had this to say about Smollett’s obviously far-fetched tale: “This is a sickening and outrageous attack, and horribly, it’s the latest of too many hate crimes against LGBTQ people and people of color. We are all responsible for condemning this behavior and every person who enables or normalizes it. Praying for Jussie and his family.”
On Feb. 18, she explained she wants to play it safe now, explaining that her earlier remarks were “much more about homophobia in any form, any bigoted act or words are heinous and something we don’t support. But we don’t know the facts, so I’m going to wait and find out the facts.”
So, “fake but accurate” then?
Sen. Kamala Harris’, D-Calif., social media team also tweeted this on Jan. 29 [emphasis added]: “[Jussie Smollett] is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.”
This weekend, after being asked to explain her past comments in light of the latest developments in the likely Smollett hoax, the senator responded in a way that suggested she wasn’t even aware her office had tweeted that “lynching” remark.
“Which tweet? What tweet?” the senator asked. “I — think the facts are still unfolding and I’m very concerned.”
She added that “there should be an investigation,” and left it at that.
Wow, good thing she was never in a position where her bad judgment could’ve been used to imprison thousands of people.
Lastly, there’s Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who also tweeted on Jan. 29: “The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching. I’m glad he’s safe. To those in Congress who don’t feel the urgency to pass our Anti-Lynching bill designating lynching as a federal hate crime — I urge you to pay attention.”
Asked by reporters to square his initial comments with Chicago law enforcement officials’ statements suggesting Smollett lied to everyone, the New Jersey senator also urged caution.
“I’m going to withhold until all the information actually comes out from on the record sources.”
“We know in America that bigoted and biased attacks are on the rise in a serious way,” he added. “We actually even know in this country that since 9/11 a majority of the terrorist attacks on our soil have been right-wing terrorist attacks, a majority of them white supremacist attacks.”
So we’re going with the “fake but accurate” defense, then.
You’d think people who say they want to bring the country together would have a vested interest in making sure an alleged hate crime actually happened before commenting on it. You’d think they’d want to do everything possible to avoid spreading misinformation, furthering the already bitterly partisan divides.
Then again, considering Smollett’s story was so unbelievable from the get-go and they promoted it anyway, maybe they’re not all that interested in racial harmony and healing and all that. Fear sells, and people are buying.
