Few had it made at the beginning of 2019 quite like Jussie Smollett, an actor and singer who successfully navigated child stardom on the way to becoming a fixture on the hit TV series Empire. That was until late January of that same year, when news broke that Smollett had been attacked outside his downtown Chicago apartment in a possible hate crime. (Smollett is Black and gay.) The breakout details that Smollett shared early on – specifically, that he had been jumped by two Maga foot soldiers who doused him in bleach before placing a noose around his neck – both galvanized public supporters and made them cynical. (Really? They shouted: “This is Maga country?” In Streeterville?) What’s more, the police didn’t do themselves many favors by registering their skepticism early and loudly.
Ultimately, Smollett, who was suspected of staging the confrontation with help from two acting acquaintances, was charged with filing a false police report. When those charges were dropped in a deal with the county prosecutor’s office, prompting cries of favoritism, Smollett was re-indicted, found guilty of framing himself and sentenced to five months of county jail. All the while Smollett was reduced to an object of global derision, with everyone from Dave Chappelle to Charles Barkley getting licks in. Explaining himself only made matters worse.
