CNN: New evidence suggests Jussie Smollett orchestrated attack (Check Threadmarks / Staff Posts) (UPDATE: Now a suspect)

[subpar spatula]

It sounds like what let them to brothers was tracing back who bought the rope. I don't see how that's burying a black man and not just the police doing their work

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Let's face it, if this was a white person chances are the police wouldn't do as much digging. He's also a celebrity, but that won't make him immune from the system. Media, police, and society paint black victims are aggressors with things like, "He smoked marijuana" and shit to assassinate their character. It wouldn't shock me to learn that a big chunk of this investigation was driven by that same bias. Does that mean he shouldn't be punished? Naw, but I believe he thought he'd have an easier time when that's not how America works.

 

[Samban]

Police released a statement (quoted in the same CBS article I linked earlier):

"We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation. We've reached out to the Empire cast member's attorney to request a follow-up interview."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jussie...k-source-says-2019-02-16/?ftag=CNM-00-10aac3a

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Ok, this is done. Confirmed hoax. I for one hope this leads to some productive introspection from the community on how we handle sensationalized media in a hypernormalized society. I might make a thread...

 

[entremet]

This has literally nothing to do with due process.

When I say "victim blaming is not retroactively okay," I am referring to the many people online who saw the news immediately after it happened and decided the person was lying. It was a cesspool on social media.

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Not talking about people saying he lied. I'm talking about those that questions about the alleged attack.

 

[Bakercat]

If true, not only killed your career, but gave racists fuel to further hurt your people more.

 

[Kinthey]

Let's face it, if this was a white person chances are the police wouldn't do as much digging. He's also a celebrity, but that won't make him immune from the system. Media, police, and society paint black victims are aggressors with things like, "He smoked marijuana" and shit to assassinate their character. It wouldn't shock me to learn that a big chunk of this investigation was driven by that same bias.

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What are you talking about? There would be digging into who the hell assaulted him and that's exactly what they did. The guys who did it then just flipped and spilled the whole story

 

[Deleted member 1635]

Jussie probably thought that with the current climate in America that people would just believe him. Where he's wrong is police don't give black men the benefit of the doubt and will find ways to bury him. Like, did he think the entire country would unite? Naw. His big mistake was not realizing the actual climate of America.

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Wait... what? No, I'm not going to bat for no cops, but that's how you're trying to spin this? That they went out of their way to get Smollett? Should they have not investigated the alleged attacks at all? Sounds very much like they found the only potential candidates, confirmed them with Smollett, and now they are telling a very different story.

 

[OtherWorldly]

One correct : the two bothers brought the rope , but Smollett as per sources paid for it . I mistakenly said above sources said Smollett himself brought the rope

 

[Deleted member 23850]

but why

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This is my question as well. We will have to wait and figure out when more detail comes.

 

[Siggy-P]

At least one of the two has appeared as an extra on the Chicago-filmed Empire and seems to know Smollett socially.

Well, that's a wrap.

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CBS news

Nigerian brother were paid $3500 to partake and go to Nigeria and promised $500 on their return

Brothers brought their MAGA hat at a supply store and attack was originally planned before January 29

Smollett paid for the rope used in the attack

CBS Chicago: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/0...d-bought-rope-used-in-jussie-smollett-attack/

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That's actually an amazingly terrible plan. How the actual heck did he think he'd get away with that?

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

Jussie probably thought that with the current climate in America that people would just believe him. Where he's wrong is police don't give black men the benefit of the doubt and will find ways to bury him. Like, did he think the entire country would unite? Naw. His big mistake was not realizing the actual climate of America.

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Lol what?

 

[Deleted member 1635]

Let's face it, if this was a white person chances are the police wouldn't do as much digging.

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Huh? Weren't you just saying their investigation was racially motivated and now you're saying they wouldn't investigate alleged attacks against a white person?

 

[Samban]

Let's face it, if this was a white person chances are the police wouldn't do as much digging. He's also a celebrity, but that won't make him immune from the system. Media, police, and society paint black victims are aggressors with things like, "He smoked marijuana" and shit to assassinate their character. It wouldn't shock me to learn that a big chunk of this investigation was driven by that same bias.

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Stop. Just stop. What he did is fucked up. Police did their job investigating the crime. Stop this "but if he was white" bullshit. It's embarrassing. Jussie didn't give a fuck about the kind of damage he was doing to minorities and lgbtq folk. Go watch that fake interview he gave and tell me that doesn't make you sick.

 

[EdibleKnife]

Does anybody care about the ramifications of Jussie potentially lying about a hate crime or do we just wanna dunk on the moderators for correctly banning a group of trolls?

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Now all bigots and "centrists" have their one "both sides" talking point they can bandy about. Honestly anyone that would bring this incident up as a sign that "actually racism isn't a problem/it's just not as big as you think" is being disingenuous from step one. This is just another milstone added to the many minorities in this country have to now take on if we want to navigate and have honest and real conversations about the US's bigotry

 

[Amiablepercy]

If he goes the mental illness, insanity defense route this will also serve to further stigmatize those who are mentally ill and actively taking part of their treatment/maintenance. This is a bottomless pit of awful on so many levels.

 

[kmfdmpig]

Let's face it, if this was a white person chances are the police wouldn't do as much digging. He's also a celebrity, but that won't make him immune from the system. Media, police, and society paint black victims are aggressors with things like, "He smoked marijuana" and shit to assassinate their character. It wouldn't shock me to learn that a big chunk of this investigation was driven by that same bias. Does that mean he shouldn't be punished? Naw, but I believe he thought he'd have an easier time when that's not how America works.

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That's nonsense. A high-profile celebrity attack is always going to be investigated until a conclusion can be reached. Bias, obviously, exists in society and in the police departments, but this case is not really a good example of that.

 

[Lackless]

This is my question as well. We will have to wait and figure out when more detail comes.

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I don't think it's tough to figure out why. He figured the cops and public would just believe him and then his name is everywhere for a week which can skyrocket an actor's career if played right.

 

[Vish]

People do crazy shit, add this to the list.

He's spending all kinds of money on lawyers and PR firms. This guy.

 

[Linkura]

This whole fucking thing

 

[looprider]

CBS news

Nigerian brother were paid $3500 to partake and go to Nigeria and promised $500 on their return

Brothers brought their MAGA hat at a supply store and attack was originally planned before January 29

Smollett paid for the rope used in the attack

CBS Chicago: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/0...d-bought-rope-used-in-jussie-smollett-attack/

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Sweet baby Jesus I just can't anymore

What kind of idiot tries to get away with this

 

[BadAss2961]

This has literally nothing to do with due process.

When I say "victim blaming is not retroactively okay," I am referring to the many people online who saw the news immediately after it happened and decided the person was lying. It was a cesspool on social media.

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Being skeptical of the story isn't victim blaming.

Victim blaming is when you already know what happened, and for whatever reason, blame the victim for what happened to them.

Honestly, people should be unbanned.

 

[Deleted member 1248]

People weren't playing detective. They were saying the events didn't add up. Huge, gulf chasm difference.

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Yeah, they were. There are many other discussion forums on the internet that allow people to openly doubt and question the accounts and experience of gay black Americans and shift blame free of repercussion. The other 99% of the internet is good for that. Resetera doesn't need to make it 100.

The takeaway from this story as it stands now is the same as it was before - minorities are treated as a monolith that need to be perfect at all times or else everything they fight for falls apart in an instant.

 

[Jiggy]

Dude lawyered up as soon as the brothers were picked up

He knew they were flipping

 

[Typhonsentra]

I swear this place is filled with the most stubborn people, why is it so hard for some people to admit they were wrong? No one is currently nor was in the previous thread saying racism is not a significant issue in this country nor are they saying that hate crimes against people of color do not happen regularly.

 

[RedMercury]

I don't think it's tough to figure out why. He figured the cops and public would just believe him and then his name is everywhere for a week which can skyrocket an actor's career if played right.

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He may have figured that but that wouldn't be very smart, he should have anticipated the skepticism from the police force of all places. Maybe he just thought his celebrity would overcome that.

 

[Deleted member 8257]

What an all around shitty thing to do. Moron set back the cause.

 

[Steelrain]

Dude called himself the "gay Tupac" off of this. Clown shoes.

 

[OtherWorldly]

If this is true I think his plan was that no one would find out about the brothers and the orchestration

 

[rude]

So now the question is: Why?

Why would you even want to be thought of as a hate crime victim in the first place.

 

[Alligatorjandro]

Holy shit

 

[LewieP]

If this is true I think his plan was that no one would find out about the brothers and the orchestration

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Yes I expect he didn't intend to get caught.

 

[Terrell]

Being skeptical of the story isn't victim blaming.

Victim blaming is when you already know what happened, and for whatever reason, blame the victim for what happened to them.

Honestly, people should be unbanned.

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Victim blaming also includes things like police asking rape victims if they were drunk or wearing revealing clothes as a means to ignore a reported crime or insinuate the victim was "asking for it". So your definition doesn't fit, since an officer taking a victim statement wouldn't know what happened, since they're just being told.

Just to clarify.

 

[Netherscourge]

Orchestrating a fraud.
Filing false police report.
Reporting false hate crime.
Falsifying evidence.
Lying to police.
Paying accomplices.

-He is going to jail.

 

[Kinthey]

He may have figured that but that wouldn't be very smart, he should have anticipated the skepticism from the police force of all places. Maybe he just thought his celebrity would overcome that.

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But it wasn't skepticism that led them to uncovering this, it was finding the guys on the security footage...

 

[AcademicSaucer]

So were his ribs broken or not? I remember the original story reporting that his ribs were broken, if anything he has proven how easy it is to play the media.

 

[OtherWorldly]

So now the question is: Why?

Why would you even want to be thought of as a hate crime victim in the first place.

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There was a case of a hijab laden woman a year or so ago who did the same. I think it's a case of some people so much into the cause that they are willing to fabricate events to bring more awareness. It's a shitty thing to do

 

[Deleted member 4783]

Oh boy, thanks for giving the right fuel for its shit.

 

[Deleted member 1248]

I swear this place is filled with the most stubborn people, why is it so hard for some people to admit they were wrong? No one is currently nor was in the previous thread saying racism is not a significant issue in this country nor are they saying that hate crimes against people of color do not happen regularly.

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So y'all bitch about a lack of nuance in the discussion and then refuse to acknowledge when we change our stances on a topic in the face of new evidence.

Seems to me like everybody here is acknowledging that Jussie fucked up, so which thread are you reading?

 

[Deleted member 1635]

I swear this place is filled with the most stubborn people, why is it so hard for some people to admit they were wrong? No one is currently nor was in the previous thread saying racism is not a significant issue in this country nor are they saying that hate crimes against people of color do not happen regularly.

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There was one poster calling the description of the attack "cartoonish," when it really wouldn't have been that outlandish if in another part of the country (and possibly time of day).

 

[Deleted member 8777]

So now the question is: Why?

Why would you even want to be thought of as a hate crime victim in the first place.

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Peer pressure and social media in general. Trump is a disease and to hollywood elites he is the greatest evil ever presented.

 

[Deleted member 4090]

So were his ribs broken or not? I remember the original story reporting that his ribs were broken, if anything he has proven how easy it is to play the media.

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A lot of the original reporting was just bad, and based off of statements from other people not him. That exacerbated a lot of other issues with the story being really weird.

 

[entremet]

Yeah, they were. There are many other discussion forums on the internet that allow people to openly doubt and question the accounts and experience of gay black Americans and shift blame free of repercussion. The other 99% of the internet is good for that. Resetera doesn't need to make it 100.

The takeaway from this story as it stands now is the same as it was before - minorities are treated as a monolith that need to be perfect at all times or else everything they fight for falls apart in an instant.

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I don't think the doubts where because of his identity but due to the circumstances of the events.

Did racists use this to cast doubt more because of his identity? No doubt about it.

But you had many posters from the Chicago area voicing the bizarreness of the situation without attacking the credibility of the accused. Read the old thread. There were many believing Jussie but being baffled by the events.

If this is a fake accusation, it will be unfortunate, but even that is not verified yet. Even this thread is basically mostly questioning on new evidence, although it's not looking for good Jussie.

 

[Deleted member 1248]

Oh boy, thanks for giving the right fuel for its shit.

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You think they were low on fuel? They manufacture it on a daily basis.

 

[jontin]

CBS news

Nigerian brother were paid $3500 to partake and go to Nigeria and promised $500 on their return

Brothers brought their MAGA hat at a supply store and attack was originally planned before January 29

Smollett paid for the rope used in the attack

CBS Chicago: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/0...d-bought-rope-used-in-jussie-smollett-attack/

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This is getting me mad. These Nigerian brothers look to have a good hustle as fitness models/designers on IG and getting regular acting gigs. No way they needed $3500. Jussie is a provable fuckhead, I bet there was pressure on them to do this for their career.

 

[SolidSnakex]

So now the question is: Why?

Why would you even want to be thought of as a hate crime victim in the first place.

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Clout chasing

"And above all, I fought the fuck back," he said to cheers. Then he paused and said, emphatically but with a laugh: "I'm the gay Tupac."

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https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/feb/03/im-the-gay-tupac-jussie-smollett

 

[Instro]

Wow fuck him if this ends up being the real story. Makes life a lot worse for real victims.

Jussie probably thought that with the current climate in America that people would just believe him. Where he's wrong is police don't give black men the benefit of the doubt and will find ways to bury him. Like, did he think the entire country would unite? Naw. His big mistake was not realizing the actual climate of America.

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Um, they did believe him, that was literally the flaw in his plan . Everything hinged on the police either being incompetent, or not giving a shit that he was attacked.

 

[Deleted member 15848]

Dude called himself the "gay Tupac" off of this. Clown shoes.

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FR, this also should give you some insight as to why he did this.

So were his ribs broken or not? I remember the original story reporting that his ribs were broken, if anything he has proven how easy it is to play the media.

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Nope, they were just "bruised" and he only had a small scratch on his face after allegedly being beat down by two men...C'mon son.

 

[kmfdmpig]

There was a case of a hijab laden woman a year or so ago who did the same. I think it's a case of some people so much into the cause that they are willing to fabricate events to bring more awareness. It's a shitty thing to do

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There are very few people who hurt their own kids for the sympathy it entails (Munchausen syndrome by proxy). This type of, also super rare, victimization hoax strikes me as similar.

 

[Deleted member 9100]

Assuming all these new facts are true and he orchestrated the attack, the interview Jussie did is mind blowing especially since at that time the police were already closing in on the two brothers and Jussie knew it.

 

[Goat Mimicry]

Wow, he has to be one of the most selfish morons on the planet.

 

[Soupman Prime]

So now the question is: Why?

Why would you even want to be thought of as a hate crime victim in the first place.

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Maybe he is mentally ill and needs help. I only know of him because of this attack as I don't watch Empire so his name did get out there but so that could be it but not sure what he was expecting from this. Movie roles, book deals, talk shows? Just seems insane that he would set this all up and really sloppy too, so bad that many were questioning it the moment it happened. Hope we get the truth from him or the brothers soon.