The Jussie Smollett Affair

[allisolm]

Jussie is now officially a criminal suspect.

Yup.
From the police spokesperson: "Case Update: Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by #ChicagoPolice for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony). Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury."

https://twitter.com/ajguglielmi

I also read that a phone call came in from Smollet's defense team to the prosecutors just before the brothers were to testify which prompted them to have the testimony delayed. Apparently they claimed to have new evidence. Dunno.

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/0...rmer-suspects-grand-jury-testimony-postponed/
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainme...tt-case-to-move-toward-grand-jury-sources-say

And they're going after his financials. Looking, no doubt, for that check he wrote to the brothers for $3000 with ''hoax pymt" on the "for" line.
"Chicago detectives investigating an alleged attack on Jussie Smollett are working to obtain the actor's financial records, a high-ranking police source said Wednesday."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/entertainment/jussie-smollett-attack/index.html

 

[UglyCasanova]

I don’t think the dude goes to jail though. High powered politicians are gonna call in and he walks with probation/community service.

Keep in mind it’s not just a waste of police resources, if the police happened to have thought they caught the right people (not the brothers) then innocent people couple have their lives ruined all over the media even if they never were found guilty.

 

[shortylickens]

I am guessing Stephen Colbert and the rest of the ignore this from now on.
Especially after he had guests on talking about how awful it all was. Ellen Page comes to mind.

 

[Lanyap]

I am guessing Stephen Colbert and the rest of them ignore this from now on.
Especially after he had guests on talking about how awful it all was. Ellen Page comes to mind.

I’m guessing you’re correct. If they mention him it will be something like “poor, guy. He needs help to cope with his problem”. Then they will bring up the Covington kid’s lawsuit and make jokes about.

This JS incident is a set back to legitimate attack/assault victims. He knew that was one of the outcomes if he staged his assault but he did it anyway.

 

[Ackmed]

Just imagine if the video had come out of this guy being beaten by those actors. Luckily the camera faced the wrong way, and it didnt work out as they had planned. None of it did. The initial reaction would have been much worse. There could have been riots (as in the case of hands up dont shoot that was false), and people being hurt.

Dem Pres candidate Harris said this after the alleged attack, that it was "an attempted modern day lynching", now suddenly, like a lot of her like minded people, she now claims, ""I think that the facts are still unfolding, and, um, I’m very, um, concerned about obviously, the initial, um, allegation that he made about what might have happened" Funny how NOW she wants to reserve judgement. The bias, agenda, and kind of person she is is too easy to see in times like this. But hey, at least Cardi B is on Smollets side, claiming that the police are racist.

The news who rushed to judgement, the politicians who rushed to judgement, the hollywood elites who rushed to judgement, and the people here who rushed to judgement are responsible for creating division in this country. And they just all learned their lesson once this year with kids in DC. Yet they did it again.

Instances like this do real harm to actual victims. He has done tremendous harm. Meanwhile, what appears to be an actual assault on a Jewish person (who the op claims to care about) went unnoticed on the same exact night, in NY. But the alleged victim and assaulter dont match what the agenda driven media wants to push. Not even a blip on the radar for that alleged crime. Or others like it. Not surprising, just pathetic. The left claims to care right to free speech, but are silent on people being silenced on social media who bring up news articles and facts, simply because it goes against the original narrative.

 

[woolfe9998]

If that is true then fuck that guy, but, again that is just a claim. The last case also had people backing up his claim and it turned out to be completely false. Sometimes people lie to back up people because they think they are being compassionate and helpful.



And the other had people backing up the claims saying they saw things they did not see.



This is very wrong. Trends happen and sadly trends of false claims can happen. There was a time that school shootings were not a thing, and then it just started happening. Each case is different, yet, we can learn from each case to inform us on what to look for next time. That should be pretty obvious in terms of logic. What Smollett did and his motivations can teach us about what is going on in society and how people are reacting to those things.



It might, or, it might not. It could very well be that people sympathize with him trying to expose racism in the US and try to do their own. If people feel his motivations about exposing racism were just, they may be willing to do the same for the betterment of the country. Or, it could disincentivize, we will see. I just don't think humans are simple enough for me to say.



There is a level of agitation in society right now that is making people rush to judgement. In my opinion, advocating for people to slow down and be skeptical because of what we have seen in these recent cases is rational as well as helpful. You think that there is nothing to learn, and I vehemently disagree. We have some big cases where people lied and mistakes were made and judgment was reached too quickly. So, the Smollett case is another example in a short time that should be a signal for pause and reflection as to what the current state of society is.



I would not make that argument as its stupid. What I would say would be "lets try and get more details". The Smollett case serves as an example of how blindly accepting and believing can lead people to accept lies.

Don't give me some shit about what the Smollett cases teaches us. It tells us nothing whatsoever about whether a different person is lying. And a video. And eyewitnesses. Every case has to be looked at separately. That one person making something up doesn't mean another person halfway across the country describing a different incident did is such an elemental point of logic that I'm done explaining it because everyone gets it even if they're pretending not to.

So you're not going to believe it even if it's backed by several eye witnesses and a video now. Check. No need for further discussion. You are predisposed to disbelieve all these kinds of allegations. They're all false to you because you literally reject any and all evidence presented. Witnesses, video, whatever. None are persuasive to you. You are apparently waiting for what, a confession? Is this the standard you apply to all crimes? If so, then you must really disapprove of our criminal justice system because we convict thousands of people every day of various crimes and very few actually confess.

There is a fine line between healthy skepticism and willful denial, and you're way over it. What you're engaged in is denial, not skepticism.

I feel especially bad right now for real victims of hate crimes. Smollett truly fucked them because he activated people like you. People who are going to use this to try to discredit every other allegation.

You are way less reasonable than I once thought you were.

 

[zinfamous]

Instances like this do real harm to actual victims. He has done tremendous harm. Meanwhile, what appears to be an actual assault on a Jewish person (who the op claims to care about) went unnoticed on the same exact night, in NY. But the alleged victim and assaulter dont match what the agenda driven media wants to push. Not even a blip on the radar for that alleged crime. Or others like it. Not surprising, just pathetic. The left claims to care right to free speech, but are silent on people being silenced on social media who bring up news articles and facts, simply because it goes against the original narrative.

Wow, what a great night for our nation to have only experienced two assaults in total, in NY and Chicago that night; but unfortunate that our media resources were so limited and could only report on one of them!

 

[woolfe9998]

Just imagine if the video had come out of this guy being beaten by those actors. Luckily the camera faced the wrong way, and it didnt work out as they had planned. None of it did. The initial reaction would have been much worse. There could have been riots (as in the case of hands up dont shoot that was false), and people being hurt.

Dem Pres candidate Harris said this after the alleged attack, that it was "an attempted modern day lynching", now suddenly, like a lot of her like minded people, she now claims, ""I think that the facts are still unfolding, and, um, I’m very, um, concerned about obviously, the initial, um, allegation that he made about what might have happened" Funny how NOW she wants to reserve judgement. The bias, agenda, and kind of person she is is too easy to see in times like this. But hey, at least Cardi B is on Smollets side, claiming that the police are racist.

The news who rushed to judgement, the politicians who rushed to judgement, the hollywood elites who rushed to judgement, and the people here who rushed to judgement are responsible for creating division in this country. And they just all learned their lesson once this year with kids in DC. Yet they did it again.

Instances like this do real harm to actual victims. He has done tremendous harm. Meanwhile, what appears to be an actual assault on a Jewish person (who the op claims to care about) went unnoticed on the same exact night, in NY. But the alleged victim and assaulter dont match what the agenda driven media wants to push. Not even a blip on the radar for that alleged crime. Or others like it. Not surprising, just pathetic. The left claims to care right to free speech, but are silent on people being silenced on social media who bring up news articles and facts, simply because it goes against the original narrative.

Then why was the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting so heavily covered? And why when I google "jewish person attacked in NY" do I come up with one media story after another, various dates?

https://www.google.com/search?ei=2e...j0i131i10j0i10j33i160j33i22i29i30.czU8-pPedtQ

You're correct that Smollett has harmed real victims though. We've seen it here already where a different attack is caught on video tape and the victim appears to have multiple eye witnesses backing him but people refuse to believe him, citing the Smollett case over and over again. If you are genuinely concerned (LOL) about harming real victims of real hate crimes, then don't be one of those people who uses the Smollett matter to try to discredit every other allegation. Don't be that guy. We have enough of them already.

 

[UglyCasanova]

So this story was weird enough, but hear me out...


Jussie faked a racial attack then ran to the media and cried victim. Kamala and Cory jumped all over this and said look a lynching then passed a feel good anti-lynching bill in Jussies honor. What if this is bigger than we thought and one or two dem 2020 contenders were involved because they needed a reason to pass a look at me bill to help their campaigns. What if Jussie starts spilling the beans becaus the heat is getting real and names Kamala or Cory as the mastermind?

It’s a long shot but look at where we are now compared to page one. It really makes ya think....

 

[kage69]

Officially a suspect.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/entertainment/jussie-smollett-attack/index.html

 

[woolfe9998]

Officially a suspect.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/entertainment/jussie-smollett-attack/index.html

Which actually changes nothing since he has unofficially been a suspect for probably a week now. It's just that now the police are done with their ruse of lulling him to cooperate by pretending to be on his side since that gig is up with all the media reporting on it.

Smollett is guilty as hell so I don't see him ever talking to the police again. If I was his lawyer, I'd make sure he kept his mouth shut entirely until I could arrange a plea deal.

I notice they are seeking his financial records. This will be game over for him if they find evidence of payment to the Nigerians, which I assume they will since the brothers have likely told the cops about what form they received the payment in so the cops know what to look for.

 

[UglyCasanova]

He’s gonna plead and get a $100 fine and probation and that’s it. Nothing will become of it unless the feds get involved because of the fake anthrax.

 

[woolfe9998]

He’s gonna plead and get a $100 fine and probation and that’s it. Nothing will become of it unless the feds get involved because of the fake anthrax.

I don't think so. Not this time. Too much media coverage of this. Smollett is hated now both right and left. All eyes are on how they handle it.

Also, the only crime he's being investigated for, making a false police report, is a felony. They don't hand out $100 fines for felonies, not even in their most lenient sentences.

If I'm a betting man I would predict he does 6-12 months.

 

[Ichinisan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1098341600617529349

Brothers going in the grand jury room now

Why does the store take 4.5 minutes to get them checked out? Excruciating.

 

[realibrad]

Don't give me some shit about what the Smollett cases teaches us. It tells us nothing whatsoever about whether a different person is lying. And a video. And eyewitnesses. Every case has to be looked at separately. That one person making something up doesn't mean another person halfway across the country describing a different incident did is such an elemental point of logic that I'm done explaining it because everyone gets it even if they're pretending not to.

So you're not going to believe it even if it's backed by several eye witnesses and a video now. Check. No need for further discussion. You are predisposed to disbelieve all these kinds of allegations. They're all false to you because you literally reject any and all evidence presented. Witnesses, video, whatever. None are persuasive to you. You are apparently waiting for what, a confession? Is this the standard you apply to all crimes? If so, then you must really disapprove of our criminal justice system because we convict thousands of people every day of various crimes and very few actually confess.

There is a fine line between healthy skepticism and willful denial, and you're way over it. What you're engaged in is denial, not skepticism.

I feel especially bad right now for real victims of hate crimes. Smollett truly fucked them because he activated people like you. People who are going to use this to try to discredit every other allegation.

You are way less reasonable than I once thought you were.

I'm not sure why you are so angry at me. I have done nothing to you.

No, you are very wrong about looking at every case individually. Detective work gives you lessons that you can use toward other cases. To take the position that a previous case gives you nothing for future cases seems silly and should be apparent. Why you would take that position is very confusing to me.

And, the reason I hold my level of skepticism is because I have the luxury to do so. It has served me well in my life as I have found that taking time to understand things gives me a much better picture.

Why you felt the need to build an idea bout confessions I don't know, but it is wrong. What I am looking for is evidence beyond claims. The severity of the crime also influences the bar I set for evidence. Given the importance of hate crimes, I hold a higher level of evidence vs other types of lesser crimes. That seems reasonable.

But, I am very confused why you would bring me into a conversation about others, only to get mad at me for giving you my answers.

 

[woolfe9998]

I'm not sure why you are so angry at me. I have done nothing to you.

No, you are very wrong about looking at every case individually. Detective work gives you lessons that you can use toward other cases. To take the position that a previous case gives you nothing for future cases seems silly and should be apparent. Why you would take that position is very confusing to me.

And, the reason I hold my level of skepticism is because I have the luxury to do so. It has served me well in my life as I have found that taking time to understand things gives me a much better picture.

Why you felt the need to build an idea bout confessions I don't know, but it is wrong. What I am looking for is evidence beyond claims. The severity of the crime also influences the bar I set for evidence. Given the importance of hate crimes, I hold a higher level of evidence vs other types of lesser crimes. That seems reasonable.

But, I am very confused why you would bring me into a conversation about others, only to get mad at me for giving you my answers.

I'm not angry. I just strongly disagree with you.

Eye witnesses and video are "evidence beyond claims." You do not accept that sort of evidence. You said it yourself. That is why I mentioned confessions. But now that I think about it, I withdraw my comment about confessions because a confession can be coerced, right?

How about this. Hypothetically, if we can get definitive proof that God exists, and is omniscient, then God tells us that the crime happened, would you believe it then? Other than that I'm at a loss for how to ever convince you that an actual hate crime occurred.

Police learning from past experience (duh) is not the same thing as dismissing prima facie evidence of a crime because Jussie Smollett. The former is smart; the latter is moronic. Smollett has nothing to do with other cases.

Smollett did not have video - as you guys pointed out over and over again - and did not have any witnesses. Instead, the doubters want more context for the video, to which I point out that there were multiple eye witnesses who undoubtedly back his claim or he wouldn't have reported it. To which you reply that you believe that bystanders routinely support false stories just to help out non-victims. There is no form of evidence you will ever accept. Not for this kind of crime. In your world, no one would ever be punished for this kind of crime.

And you're going to keep raising Smollett every time there is an allegation of a different hate crime, aren't you? Just like I and several others predicted here. Which makes you irrelevant like the far right because you can't be reasoned with. Like I said, this isn't skepticism, it's denial. If it serves you in life, great. Denialism doesn't serve you well as a commentator on politics though. Reason and logic do, but that is not what you're engaging in here.

 

[kage69]

Which actually changes nothing since he has unofficially been a suspect for probably a week now. It's just that now the police are done with their ruse of lulling him to cooperate by pretending to be on his side since that gig is up with all the media reporting on it.

Smollett is guilty as hell so I don't see him ever talking to the police again. If I was his lawyer, I'd make sure he kept his mouth shut entirely until I could arrange a plea deal.

I notice they are seeking his financial records. This will be game over for him if they find evidence of payment to the Nigerians, which I assume they will since the brothers have likely told the cops about what form they received the payment in so the cops know what to look for.

I'm sure he hopes so, but this is actually the point at which most employers and sponsors generally start to worry about negative press. I'll wager a guess and say a celebrity losing some or all sources of income doesn't feel like 'nothing' to them.

He was dumb enough to try this to begin with, so no surprise here if he paid the Nigerians with a personal check.

 

[woolfe9998]

I'm sure he hopes so, but this is actually the point at which most associated companies generally start to worry about negative press. I'll wager a guess and say a celebrity losing some or all sources of income doesn't feel like 'nothing' to them.

He was dumb enough to try this to begin with, so no surprise here if he paid the Nigerians with a personal check.

Yes I see your point. What I meant was it changes nothing in relation to the police or the legal jeopardy he's in. So far as his career, it was going to happen one time or another, if not today then tomorrow or the next day. Smollett is done. He's not going to be getting paid acting gigs or record contracts anymore. That's been obvious since late last week. He's also likely going to jail, and if this story doesn't convince his employers to can him, that will.

 

[Victorian Gray]

He's been charged with felony disorderly conduct.

"Chicago police say Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report when he reported that he was attacked by two masked men.

Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the Cook County State's Attorney's office approved the felony charge on Wednesday afternoon. The charge is a Class 4 felony that carries a possible prison sentence of 1-3 years, but he could also receive probation."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/jussie-smollett-suspect-lying-attack-1.5027068

 

[Ichinisan]

I'm sure he hopes so, but this is actually the point at which most employers and sponsors generally start to worry about negative press. I'll wager a guess and say a celebrity losing some or all sources of income doesn't feel like 'nothing' to them.

He was dumb enough to try this to begin with, so no surprise here if he paid the Nigerians with a personal check.

Well his buddies, the buff Nigerian body-building brothers and business associates, were smart enough to buy the ski masks with cash.

 

[woolfe9998]

He's been charged with felony disorderly conduct.

"Chicago police say Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report when he reported that he was attacked by two masked men.

Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the Cook County State's Attorney's office approved the felony charge on Wednesday afternoon. The charge is a Class 4 felony that carries a possible prison sentence of 1-3 years, but he could also receive probation."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/jussie-smollett-suspect-lying-attack-1.5027068

Interesting, making it a disorderly conduct charge. Making a false police report is in and of itself a felony. Not sure why they didn't charge both. I can see disorderly conduct because it usually means engaging in unreasonable behavior which upsets or alarms others.

I seriously hope he does not get probation here. Even a short jail sentence of a few months would be much better since Smollett is a pretty boy who has likely never spent a night in jail. If nothing else, the humiliation will make him and others think twice before doing something like this.

 

[SlowSpyder]

He's been charged with felony disorderly conduct.

"Chicago police say Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report when he reported that he was attacked by two masked men.

Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the Cook County State's Attorney's office approved the felony charge on Wednesday afternoon. The charge is a Class 4 felony that carries a possible prison sentence of 1-3 years, but he could also receive probation."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/jussie-smollett-suspect-lying-attack-1.5027068

MAGA (country)

 

[SlowSpyder]

Also, love the thread title given the facts. Makes me smile very time I see it.

 

[Dulanic]

What an idiot if guilty. Truly stupid.

 

[Dari]

Also, love the thread title given the facts. Makes me smile very time I see it.

lol. Just as with many hate crimes, I hope the Feds jump in here over the letter incident and nail him with that too. This guy needs to be made an example of and not simply given a slap on the wrist. I'm really getting sick and tired of Trump supporters being blamed for all the ills in America. The media and Mueller are busy delegitimizing Trump's election victory and presidency and these hoaxes are adding fuel to the fire.