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Nana Efua Mumford stated that she had doubts about the alleged assault that happened to Empire actor Jussie Smollett a few weeks ago. According to Smollett, who is black and gay, he was jumped by two white Trump supporters that poured bleach on him, called him racist and homophobic slurs, put a noose around his neck, and ended the assault by saying this was “MAGA country.” The alleged attack happened in Chicago at 2AM when it was well below freezing.
Following reports of the assault, numerous celebrities and politicians came out in support of Smollett. Some celebrities took it a little further and pointed their outrage at the Trump Administration and Trump supporters. Actress Ellen Page directly blamed Vice President Pence for the assault during an interview with Stephen Colbert. Smollett gave a tearful interview on Good Morning America describing the incident and then claimed that he thinks he was targeted because he “comes down hard on 45,” in reference to President Donald Trump’s position as the 45th President of the United States.
After a few days, more people were voicing concerns that everything wasn’t what it seems. In a break in the investigation, two Nigerian brothers were arrested and questioned about the incident, before being later released. Chicago PD then made the revelation that they suspect Smollett paid the men $3500 to stage the attack on him and instructed them to purchase the items used in the assault.
Following the revelations, some people that defended Smollett are either questioning the findings, retracting their original comments, or simply staying silent. Many of the celebrities that defended him are keeping quiet. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is one of a few politicians and celebrities on Twitter that deleted their tweets referencing the incident.
In the case of the reporter that wrote the article linked above, while she had her doubts, she wishes that the incident was true because by it being a hoax, it is another blunder that skeptics can use against them in the future:
If Smollett’s story is found to be untrue, it will cause irreparable damage to the communities most affected. Smollett would be the first example skeptics cite when they say we should be dubious of victims who step forward to share their experiences of racist hate crimes or sexual violence. The incident would be touted as proof that there is a leftist conspiracy to cast Trump supporters as violent, murderous racists. It would be the very embodiment of “fake news.”
And that reason, more than any other, is why I need this story to be true, despite its ugliness and despite what it would say about the danger of the world I live in.
In my opinion, she should be glad that the assault probably didn’t happen and more concerned about why he would be pushed to fake such a thing. Assuming he did fake it, that was resources taken away from real crimes in Chicago, putting another target on millions of Americans with a different political opinion, and making real victims of hate crimes harder to believe. What do you think?
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