The Jussie Smollett Scandal (reviewed)
On January 29, 2019, the American actor Jussie Smollett claimed to have been attacked in bizarre circumstances, so bizarre it beggars belief anyone could have believed him, but I did. The reason I did was because, as far as I recall, all I heard was that a black actor in Chicago had been attacked by two white men.
A report as simple as that is credible, especially to someone on the other side of the Atlantic; it could have been a robbery, a disagreement in a bar, almost anything. When the full details emerged though, they were at the limit of credibility. As this hoax was so highly publicised, was very recent and as it was played out in the courts with finality only last November, it is reasonable to assume most readers, certainly most American readers, will be familiar with it, perhaps even bored with it.
The still interested reader will find much footage of it on YouTube, including the most recent full length offering The Jussie Smollett Scandal by those good people at New Nation. This isn’t the first full length documentary on the case but if it isn’t the best, it is surely the most thorough. Unsurprisingly, Smollett himself chose not to contribute so appears only in archive footage. Three of his siblings were not so modest but are just as unbelievable.
Chicago police chief Eddie Johnson - now retired - is a major contributor, and he doesn’t mince his words. Kim Foxx also appears, she has less to say and none of it credible. Whatever the motive for Smollett’s ludicrous hoax, it had the potential to incite riots and large scale destruction of property or worse. Anyone who doesn’t believe that should look at some of the hate crime hoaxes we have been fed over the years from the Tawana Brawley hoax to Duke Lacrosse to far more recent faux outrages like those involving the mysterious appearance of nooses, some of them very small.
At the end of the day, Smollett would spend a few days behind bars then following a technical ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court, he was free to proclaim (falsely) to all who would listen that he had been absolved of all guilt. Tell that to the Osundairo Brothers, whom he betrayed.
Although he is now said to be persona non grata in Chicago, Smollett appears still to be welcome in Hollywood, total scumbag that he is.
His latest effort is a film he directed, co-wrote and acted in. The Lost Holliday has an IMDb rating of 1.8 out of 10, with, at the time of writing, only 9 user reviews and zero external reviews since its release last September. Garbage treatment for a garbage human being.