Thursday, January 31, 2019

Jussie Smollett

An actor named Jussie Smollett is claiming he was attacked by two people yelling racial slurs and claiming to be Trump supporters. That much all reports agree on. Having said that, the media cannot seem to get the facts straight. Originally media outlets were reporting that the attackers were wearing MAGA hats; but, Mr. Smollett told police they had ski masks covering their faces and no MAGA hats were mentioned. So what did he tell the cops.

Mr. Smollett had just arrived in Chicago having flown in from New York. He walked to a local Subway that was open at 2 in the morning to get something to eat. It is reported that he was seen on the camera entering the Subway. He left the restaurant and was walking home and he claims that is when two white men wearing ski masks recognized him as a gay actor and began calling him names at which point they began hitting him.. He claims they poured a liquid on him and put a noose around his neck and then left. He continued walking home with the noose around his neck and entered his building where 40 minutes later he called the police. He also went to the hospital. Some articles claim he received a broken rib; but, that does not seem credible as he is giving a concert this weekend in Los Angeles. He claims that he was on the phone with his manager when he was attacked; but, both he and his manager have refused to turn their phones over to the police to check the call records. The police have recovered film from dozens of cameras and have no video of the reported attack.

I have never heard of Mr. Smollett and have never watched the show he is on, "Empire". Clearly my readers know that I never advocate violence. If this occurred as Mr. Smollett claimed it would be horrifying; but, it also raises a lot of questions. Lets start with some simple ones. Did these two people know he would be walking back from Subway in the freezing cold at 2 in the morning? That seems unlikely. Did they just happen to be walking around with a noose on the off chance they would come across a gay black man? How did they recognize him, do they watch the show? What was the deal with the ski masks? I have lived in the cold and people almost never wear ski masks to cover their face if they are not skiing. It should be noted that Mr. Smollett really hates Trump. Mr. Smollett's manager claims he was on the phone while Mr. Smollett was being attacked; but, he didn't call the police nor did he attempt to find him. Heck, did the media even get the facts straight I should also point out he is good friends with Maxine Waters.

The story sounds fishy; but, anything is possible. Whether you believe he is telling the truth or not, the media is misreporting it and that is lazy journalism. Many of the early reports claimed the attackers were wearing MAGA hats; but, Smollett said they were wearing ski masks, big difference. The truth is we have to wait a couple of days to get the story straight. I have also been watching tons of videos about this from people who believe him and people who do not. At least a couple of videos claim that the attack was caught on video, it has not as of today. Two people were filmed walking in the area within a half an hour of the alleged event and from the shots you cannot even tell if they were black or white. The police have said they want to find these people to ask if they witnessed anything.

Here is another fact that is being misreported. Many have claimed he was hospitalized, nope. He drove himself to the hospital was checked out and released, same day. There are commenters saying they hope he gets better. He has a singing gig in Los Angeles on Saturday which he is attending. I expect he will tell his story when he gets back to Los Angeles, lets here what he says because the media may not have it right. I wont say it is true or a hoax until I hear him tell the story, the police find a video or proof or some actual evidence is provided and neither should my readers.