Well, that didn’t take long. Right wing nuts are already finding ways to discredit yesterday’s racist and homophobic attack against Jussie Smollett.
Smollett was reportedly attacked by two white men wearing ski masks who shouted, “Aren’t you that f*ggot ‘Empire’ n*gger?” before pouncing on him, breaking his rib, sliding a noose around his neck, dousing him in bleach, and screaming “This is MAGA country!” then fleeing the scene.
Related: Jussie Smollet attacked by homophobes who tied a noose around his neck and doused him in bleach
In an article headlined “Shifting Stories Cloud Claims of Alleged Hate Crime Attack Targeting ‘Empire’ Actor Jussie Smollett”, Patrick Poole over at PJ Media claims “conflicting versions of the incident” have “raised questions about what actually happened”.
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The “conflicting version of the incident” he is referring to is the fact that Smollett didn’t mention the fact that the attackers shouted “This is MAGA country!” until his second police interview.
Naturally, Poole suggests, this means the whole thing must be a lie. It couldn’t possibly be that Smollett didn’t mention the MAGA remarks in his first police interview because, oh, I dunno, he had just been attacked, was in shock, and was still processing what happened.
Poole also says police haven’t found any video of the alleged assailants, which must also mean the whole thing is a fabrication, because, as everyone knows… PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN! And he notes that a screenshot of Smollett in the hospital was posted online by Empire creator Lee Danels but has since been removed, which is also apparently suspect.
Related: Twitter rips into Kevin Hart and D.L. Hughley for their remarks on Jussie Smollett’s attack
Meanwhile, over a Breitbart, Joel B. Pollak points a finger at the NAACP for “blaming President Trump” for the “alleged racist attack” and then goes out of his way to note that Smollett “drove himself to a nearby hospital.” The implication being that, since he wasn’t taken in an ambulance, his injuries must not have been that bad.
Then there’s Cristina Laila over at The Gateway Pundit who notes that it’s “freezing” in Chicago then pose the questions: “Why on earth would two white Trump supporters be hanging around in subfreezing temps with rope and bleach and just happen to run into a celebrity and recognize him at 2 AM in the streets of Chicago?”
Oh, let’s not forget about the trolls on Twitter…
Whoever loosely knitted the Jussie Smollett story forgot to tie a knot. His story is quickly unraveling. He said it happened right outside a Subway. Now he can’t remember where exactly it happened? Move over Nathan Phillips. A new liar needs a seat.
— GratefulDreg (@GratefulDreg) January 30, 2019
Chicago police say they’ve reviewed hundreds of hours of footage from downtown surveillance cameras but haven’t found footage yet of the alleged attack on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett. #FakeNews
— Libs Are Mental (@graphixpro1) January 30, 2019
A brutal attack & he only has a scratch! Nothing captured on surveillance? Not even him anywhere on surveillance? Something doesn’t sound right? No witnesses either? So just exactly where was he attacked then? In some dark corner?
— Stanley James (@StanleyJames05) January 30, 2019
This is going to be unpopular opinion but fuck it. This whole Jussie Smollett situation seems odd. I’m not saying he wasn’t attacked, I’m just not sure I believe the media’s version of events. Racism definitely still exists in America, but unfortunately, so do liars.
— n i c k f r e s h (@NickFresh215) January 30, 2019
@vwoodhull938 it is a manufactured LIE!
Jussie Smollett is an actor! He is a LIAR! https://t.co/AewWmli5sI
— Kristina (@Kristin80075314) January 30, 2019
I will not be the least bit surprised when we find out Jussie Smollett made this whole story up. BLACK PEOPLE love to play victim any chance they get. Time will tell the truth I guarantee it. The story does not make sense, and the noose part is laughable. LIARS!#JusticeForJussie pic.twitter.com/xBInCg5dPt
— Yirmyah Fox (@RealYirmyahFox) January 29, 2019
This is all very rich coming from the same crowd that believed without a shadow of the a doubt the great Pizzagate conspiracy theory of 2016 that claimed Hillary Clinton and other high-ranking Democrats were running a child sex trafficking ring outside of a Washington, D.C. pizza shop.
iamru2
Iam not a conservative far from it but now days I wait until investigations are completed before I make judgements. In this case there are some things to be skeptical about. If it did happen it’s horrendous but I’m not convinced st this point. Sorry social justice warriors if that doesn’t fit your expectations of how I should react!
Apolodorus
Is that the new strategy then? Trying to appear reasonable? ?
Quick tip, if you are trying to appear middle of the road, don’t use the expesssion “social justice warriors”. That’s the maga hat of expressions
stanhope
yes you are sorry…..you have drunk the Jonestown kool aid….the good news is that you are so insignificant that nobody cares what you think, your opinion or that you exist on this Earth….the better news for you is that you will get swept up in the tide of the change that is coming even though you don’t deserve the ride. Now go back to sitting on that pickle that subs for the decent husband you’ll never have.
Vince
Ha. That’s a funny Archie Bunker gif. My grandparents were exactly the same.
The twitter comments do make sense. Barely a scratch from such a brutal attack and nothing to corroborate it in a place you’d expect lots of witnesses. Sure wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard about these stories turning into something completely different or just made up. Definitely not ready to make any rush judgement.
DarkZephyr
Saying “Ha” about it and saying that the twitter comments *outright condemning him as a liar* “make sense” isn’t forming a judgment?
Apolodorus
Another one trying to look reasonable and then claiming a brutal attack didn’t happen because surely it would have left more than a scrape on his face… SMH?
Brian
Maybe if you don’t want people calling this story fake news, you shouldn’t use fake news headlines? Even if the story happened 100% like he claimed it did, (which I’m sure it didn’t), this was not anywhere close to an “attempted lynching”. Stop the clickbait dramatics, it’s pathetic.
iamru2
The sad thing is that wanting facts can get one labeled as a racist which only hampers real racism claims.
Brian
Yep. By now enough information has come out that it’s perfectly reasonable to question what really happened. Not to mention the logical fallacies in the original story. Any responsible media outlet would at the very least be quietly taking a few steps back, making sure their reporting contained words like “allegedly” or “claimed”. But Queerty being Queerty, they double down on the story as bring irrefutable fact so they can continue their neverending narrative that white men are evil.
Apolodorus
Are you actually different people? Or do you login to reply to each comment?
Brian
Who else do you think I am?
stanhope
purchase a clue in the target that gives some intelligent if you use their credit card…..clearly you know nothing of history…
radiooutmike
I’m terribly disappointed by people immediately disbelieving him because: 1) he is a victim, 2) he is an actor and 3) he is black.
Yes, I have been mad at some cases of homophobic attacks reported recently were actually fallacious.
But why not believe him? Oh, because there has not been enough evidence released for your review?
Brian
Because his story is preposterous and doesn’t make logical sense? Not everything is about racism and homophobia.
Goforit
Now, now Radiooutmike. It is obvious (if you think like iamur2, Vince and Brian) that Mr. Smollett hit himself in the face, broke his own rib and poured bleach on himself before going to the hospital. All because he is not getting enough attention having a staring role in a hugely popular tv show. Yeah, that must be what happened. Please Queerty, bring back Cylest so that we can get rid of these hateful trolls.
Brian
Here’s the thing. We don’t know for sure that he broke a rib, we just know he said he did. Anyone could pour bleach on themselves, I don’t know why that would be too much for you to believe. And the police haven’t even confirmed that it’s bleach yet, they say they are still testing it.
As for his face injury, did you see how superficial that was? If the attack happened the way he said it did, don’t you think there would be more than a tiny scratch on his cheek? They were forceful enough to break a rib and put a rope around his neck, which would mean they were in the vicinity of his face while he was presumably struggling, and that’s all that he ended up with? Faces are really delicate. It doesn’t take much to leave a bruise or break the skin or draw blood. It does, however, look a lot like the type of injury a person lying about being attacked would give themself if they really didn’t want to hurt themself.
As for why anyone does this type of thing, who knows? People fake cancer, parents intentionally make their kids sick, people have mental illness or addiction problems. That he’s on a TV show doesn’t mean squat, Lucian Piane was the music producer on Drag Race for many years and her blew up his career spectacularly. And I’m sure you’ve heard of Roseanne
Finally, if the best you can do to dispute somebody is to say “hate” and “troll”, it means you have nothing and that you lost the debate. Try harder than just meaningless cliches and wishing for censorship dear.
DarkZephyr
@Goforit, yeah, I miss our moderator. What happened to her? The site had actually gotten peaceful and somewhat civil. Now its back to cynicism, snark and victim attacking.
Apolodorus
@brian people call you troll and dismiss you because debating you is what you want. A troll loves trolling. People stop feeding trolls when they either do not engage or shut the discussion down.
You’d objective, like the objectives of most trolls and most racists, is not to engage in a debate. It’s to get a platform from which you can continue speaking until you can manage to pass your message to an unsuspecting, ill informed person, and persuade them if your argument.
Sparring with you is helping you generate notes troll babies.
Blackceo
@Apolodorus
You’re not wrong
Trekbike
I just moved from Chicago where I lived in the loop. I’ve walked downtown several times at 2-3 in the morning and never had a problem. Chicago is a great city and no, there’s not constant gun violence going on either. Like every city, it has it’s dangerous areas that I’d never visit in the day or night, like any other metropolitan city. I was very surprised to hear about the incident knowing how safe it is there. I’m not saying it didn’t happen, I’m just a bit skeptical as to what actually happened.
nunya
Exactly
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
It sounds absurd to say this but I actually do hope it happened as he claims……
Because once he put it out there and if found out to be false, will hurt the credibility and desire of authorities to fully investigate any legitimate anti Gay attacks…..
Trekbike
I do too! Not to be insensitive, but it strengthens the case that Tump is a dirty f*cking loser!!
Blackceo
I am far from a conservative but I hate that I too am in the camp of something doesn’t seem right here. Where my mind is going though is that he was targeted by someone he may know. The MAGA letter that was sent to him threatening him and then the people that happened to be upon him at 2am with bleach and rope seems weird. He stays in Chicago when Empire is being filmed so I’m not disputing that something happened, but someone could have been watching him and saw him come out of his home and then attacked. If he had a bad hookup or a drug deal gone wrong I can’t imagine why he would bring attention to himself with a whole MAGA attack if no one was around. He could’ve simply said that he got mugged. So the detail of the story on one hand has me like okay why would Jussie make that up? That’s why targeting by someone he may know personally, or somehow affiliated with the show is where my mind is.
I am definitely holding my thoughts until the investigation is complete. I hope there is evidence one way other the other to either substantiate the claims, or debunk the incident because if no video footage comes to light, people have already gone to their corners in terms of hoax vs truth and it will forever be a mystery, which is ashame.
jjose712
The “i’m far from a conservative” it’s the new “but i have gay friends”
Blackceo
Except I don’t even have conservative friends anymore.
truthseeker
With the large number of fake news stories and hate crime hoaxes happening more frequently, there is nothing wrong with simply asking questions
When people begin to silence and demonize people for seeking more information, that censors discussion and ends critical thinking. Anyone afraid of facts simply fears the truth and will resort to name calling to avoid the truth
Lots of these facts don’t add up. If he was covered in bleach, why did it not burn his skin? Why after police reviewed hundreds of hours of footage, they can’t find this incident on camera? Why would a celebrity with an entourage go out by himself at 2am in -22 degree weather for a hoagie and not have staff do it? Why did 2 supposed full grown white supremacists carrying a jug of bleach and a noose only leave a finger nail scratch on his cheek? How did 2 racist and homophobic guys know who is on the cast of Empire?
Nothing wrong with asking serious questions before pointing fingers. Just last week we were told that a Native American Vietnam veteran was threatened by teenagers. Turns out that was not true, he didn’t even serve in Vietnam
Brian
Maybe if Queerty didn’t lie in their articles, people wouldn’t feel the need to clarify that. Their own comment section clearly proves that it’s not just conservatives questioning the legitimacy of this story.
I know people like to think that stories like this are a barometer of a person’s political views, but sometimes it really is just about logic and common sense. Especially in a story with as many holes as this one has.
Blackceo
C’mon Brian. We both know that common sense ain’t common, boo.
MarathonBoy
So Graham Gremore labels all skeptics conservative, and then if you respond to that by clarifying that you aren’t conservative, that’s somehow not allowed? You are living in a bubble, sir.
jjohnson1032
I live in Chicago and I’m black, but something is off with this whole thing. He was sent a letter in mail threatening him with. Letter saying MAGA. Then he came home from airport at 2 AM and was attacked randomly by two people who recognized him and they were wearing masks had rope and bleach. Im sure with it being 15 degrees out then Jussie was wearing winter gear hat coat etc. These men knew who he was and happened to say same thing from previous letter.
Part of city where he was attacked is in one of the more pricier downtown neighborhoods not saying bad things don’t happen there but it is extremely rare. Either Jussie is lying or he is being targeted by someone he knew or he just has the worse final destination luck.
Trekbike
I totally agree with you. I just moved out of Chicago where I lived in the loop. It’s an upper class area and quite safe. I never felt unsafe, no matter what time it was, day or night. I truly hope he’s telling the truth. I’m an assault survivor and fake assault claims really hurt genuine victims accountability. Damn I hope he’s telling the truth.
phanrepublic
All TRUE conservative muggers make SURE to be seen and pose politely for hidden cameras as well as leaving incriminating evidence. It doesn’t matter that 40% of crime is NEVER solved, if it involves a hate crime, then the attackers have to be smart enough to be caught! It’s like .. in the constitution or something.
truthseeker
Not sure that much snark is necessary. This wouldn’t be the first time that an Empire star made up alleged racism.
Taraji P Henson claimed police racially profiled and targeted her son and then illegally searched his car and found drugs. Dash cam footage contradicts all of that and shows that the police officers were extremely polite and that her son confessed to having drugs in the car
Brian
Do you not understand how security cameras work?
Rock-N-RollHS
Ugh. I hope to the dear god I don’t believe in that JS did not fabricate the story. If any of it is fabricated, I guess I’ll be less angry than sad, and concerned that JS has mental health issues.
But no-one is reporting further on the story but real journalists (not right wing hacks or liberal pile-ons) must do their due diligence regardless of the ideology or identity of the alleged victim. I do think that certain aspects of it deserve further scrutiny, at the very least to get those guys, if they exist.
MarathonBoy
You can’t say 100% that it is a fake until the evidence is in, but in general, the more outlandish the attack and the more it follows a cliche narrative – the more likely it is to be fake. The big red flag here is that it was multiple attackers who magically found him at 2 am in a takeout place after he just got back from a trip. Were they tracking his movements the whole time? The other red flag is the noose, which probably hasn’t been used in an actual anti-black hate crime in 50 years but which, because of its use in the early 20th century, is widely linked to anti-black hate crimes in films and literature.
It is also possible that it is partially true (there was some kind of random street crime) but that he embellished. The least likely outcome is that it is 100% true as he claims, but that is a possibility. We just need to wait for the evidence.
Kangol
Nooses have been used in anti-Black hate crimes more than once over the last 50 years. In Texas, in Maryland, in North Carolina, in Ohio, in Washington, DC, etc. Do a search, and once again, you’ll be confronted with objective reality.
MarathonBoy
Thanks for not sharing any details whatsoever. It really makes you seem credible.
Black Pegasus
I support Jussie fully, but I want more answers. Hopefully the FBI and Police will fill in some of the blanks.
iminheatlikeacat
I’m just here for the article (and comments) when it’s revealed that this didn’t happen.
Brian
Will Queerty actually even run an article when that happens? I can’t see them owning up to actually being wrong, but I can see them just quietly ignoring it.
As for the comments, I imagine they’ll be along the lines of “maybe this didn’t happen, but things like it are happening all over the country every day by racist Trump supporters, and you’re still trolls for not believing him in the first place”.
Franklin
And if it isn’t fake, will you promise never to post again on Queerty? That’d be reason enough for it to be real for me.
Doug
This sounds like the same people who assert that sexual assault victims are all lying.
MarathonBoy
Mmmm, nobody says that.
Chevelter
What a nasty back-and-forth. It seems to me that one side here has rushed to judgment and will not tolerate reasonable discussion.
Scout
Even considering that Queerty and most of the GLBT on here consider Conservatives blanketly evil, the headline is flagrantly provocative and misleading. Conservatives are not all right wing nuts.
I’m still waiting to read a single article on here that refers to a Progressive leftist as a left wing nut.
Chevelter
The fact that Smollett refused to let police look at his cell phone is a *huge* red flag. Police need to rule out whether this was the result of some sort of planned meeting, perhaps a hookup or drug deal gone bad.
1898
If you were the victim of a mugging and the police said “we need to poke around in your computer, your sock drawer, and your medicine cabinet” would you let them? I wouldn’t, because it’s not relevant and they have no right to do it. If they’re hell bent on doing it anyway, they can come back with a search warrant. In this day and age, the cell phone is equivalent to all the things I listed above, and more. Unless they have probably cause to suspect him of a crime, they have no right and no reason to go through his phone, and NO ONE should let the authorities do that without a warrant.
Jay423
big red flag. I can understand not wanting to hand over your phone for privacy reasons, but they only wanted it to verify that he was talking to his manager at the time of the attack. All he had to do would be screenshot the call log and text it to the cops. He didn’t want them seeing that? Why not? That’s just one out of a zillion red flags for me. This is a red flag case.
Toofie
Yeah, why would you turn over your phone to the police? People have all sorts of info, pics, etc on there phone. There are others ways to verify he call besides handing your phone over.
Jay423
I’m ultra liberal, but I do not believe this story at all. Everything about it suggests outright staging and embellishing and lying.
First, we have the death threat letter with MAGA written on it and mailed 8 days prior. In it the letter writer cut out letters from a magazine to form a sentence avoiding handwriting. But in the same letter the letter writer uses handwriting with a red pen. So what purpose would the cut out letters serve? Arts and crafts project? The person wanted the letter to look creative? Makes NO sense.
Second, 8 days later the same victim of the letter just happened to be attacked by racist, homophobic, MAGA guys at 2 am on a street in Chicago. According to the alleged victim the guys said “Aren’t you that F— from Empire?” So, two guys were walking down the street and just happened to recognize him and then produced ski masks, bleach, and a noose? Makes NO sense.
Okay, maybe the two guys were out looking to commit a racist act. At 2 am on a freezing night they decided to go out with masks, bleach, and a noose? If so, would their purpose be just to place the noose around the neck of somebody they were going to beat? Makes NO sense.
If the men happened upon the alleged victim by accident then surely they would not have had all that stuff with them. And, wait, when they said Aren’t you that F– from Empire, were they both wearing ski masks as they walked down the street? Makes NO sense. Or they then decided to put them on and beat him up? Again, makes NO sense.
Were they the same ones who wrote the letter and were stalking him? That COULD make sense but why would they say to him Hey aren’t you that F– from Empire? They would have zero reason to not acknowledge they were the ones who wrote the letter. So this pretending to just happen to run into the alleged victim makes NO sense. And, again, why would they have been armed with bleach, a noose, and masks if they just happened to run in to the alleged victim, a famous person who just so happened to have suffered a similar act of hate via the mail 8 days prior.
Makes NO sense.
His manager says he was on the phone with the alleged victim at the precise time of the attack. Really? You talk to your manager at 2 am? And the manager says he heard the MAGA comments. Really? Isn’t that awfully convenient?
And when the police asked to see proof, the alleged victim refused to show his phone to police. Interesting.
After poring over hundreds of hours of area videos, the police say there is no video of the attack. There is video of the alleged victim walking across the street away from two people, going out of frame for a minute and then seen walking with a noose around his neck. A noose he kept on as he walked home. A noose he continued, for almost an hour after the “fact,” to keep on until the cops arrived at his apartment. Very strange.
He’s out of the hospital and has not said a WORD on Twitter to his many supporters. Not even a thank you. Cryptically silent. Very strange.
I looked at his Twitter account and he made three questionable Tweets in the last month. One was virulently angry against Trump and Trump supporters, another spoke of depression, and another spoke of frauds. After allegedly suffering not one but two disturbing racist and homophobic incidents within 8 days, by MAGA supporters, in retrospect those Tweets are very strange and coincidental.
I am a fan of his and I’m ultra liberal. Please don’t think people questioning this bizarre, outlandish story are right wing nuts. You honestly think the FBI and the police are not thinking exactly what I’m thinking? They just can’t say it yet. But you know they eventually will.
I wish the alleged victim the best. I wish society the best too because we are all to quick to run with inflammatory, race baiting stories–especially when they fit out personal narratives and political ideologies.
AlanBap62
Naturally those who are Trump disciples jump to the conclusion that this is fake news. Anyone who questions whether or not Jusse was attacked is akin to blaming a woman who was raped for being raped. You are attacking the victim by assuming they either were not attacked or are to blame for the crime. This is the result of years of racism, homophobia and all other forms of prejudices that both liberals and conservatives have ignored for many years in this country. I am losing my pride in the USA.
Jay423
All crime victims deserve respect and the benefit of the doubt while the investigation is unfolding. All alleged criminals deserve respect and the benefit of the doubt (innocent until proven guilty) while an investigation unfolds. That does not mean there won’t be questions arising out of the investigations.
Don’t contribute to the shaming of people who have questions.
Scout
Jay423 has detailed an excellent analysis. Let’s not embarrass ourselves by jumping to conclusions and making us look like dopes till the facts are all in!
Jay423
Thanks. Yeah I’m just going to wait. Of course I wish the guy the best, but there are just too many questions here. The FBI and police don’t play. We will find out soon enough.
sportsnoodles
Having worked in the media for decades, it’s a disgrace to see what is being passed on as NEWS these days. I don’t believe any of these writers even know what journalism is. If you want to whine about your opinions, then start a blog. Don’t litter a decent publication with pathetic whimpering.