In 2019, we were all convinced that the man who played Jamal Lyon on Empire lied about being the victim of a hate crime. After watching Netflix’s ‘The Truth About Jussie Smolett,’ there is still a very strong chance that he could be lying…but I’m not as sure as I once was.
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A quick recap of what happened in case you’ve slept since 2019. On a cold ass day in January, Smollett said that two white men yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him, beat him up and put a noose around his neck in the city of Chicago. There was initially an outpouring of sympathy, but when we learned more about what happened many had questions. Ultimately, this went to trial he was found guilty of falsely reporting a hate crime.
Now, this is where most of us stopped paying attention. COVID started running rampant in the streets, and Tiger King was on Netflix. We had other things on our minds. Did anyone pay attention to the fact that last year the Illinois Supreme Court reversed Smollett’s conviction? The documentary goes out of its way to point that out. That does not necessarily mean he did not lie, but it is definitely something. But wait, there’s more.
The documentary also does a convincing job of poking holes in the argument that Jussie was lying. There were witnesses who corroborated his testimony that there were white men out on the streets that night in the vicinity of where he said he was attacked. Did you know that? I didn’t.
Even more, there is video that seems to show two white men on the road that night. That’s a thing that will make you go ‘hmm.’ And that’s before we start talking about the Chicago Police Department (CPD).
The CPD has a long and storied history of, well, if not being corrupt, then having a relaxed relationship with ethics. And then there is the racially problematic behavior that the department continues to show.
The documentary does a convincing job of making the case that there could have shenanigans going on with the Smollett case. The police in that city have a history of falsifying evidence, and there is a questionable gap in a video that is important in this case. The gap is like what the police in Chicago did in a different case. And then there are the Nigerians.
The men who we thought Smollett hired to stage this whole thing…Well, they come off looking terrible. There is video that suggests they lied in this case because the police could arrest them on a gun charge. And after the fact, they look questionable as hell. They went on Fox News to capitalize on their new fame, and there is a scene at the end of the film where they shamelessly plug a book they have coming out about the case that makes them look the absolute opposite if serious men.
Do the points this documentary raise clear Jussie Smollett’s name? Absolutely not. But it demands we take another look at the case we once thought was open/shut.
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