Actor’s ‘hate crime’ exposes anti-Trump media’s rationality void
Reports of a racial and homophobic attack against actor Jussie Smollett was a story sent from the gods for the bulk of the American media. It’s no surprise they swallowed such an implausible story so easily, asks Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
And, what gullible fools we make of ourselves when we believe the unbelievable because it fits a preferred narrative.
American journalists and pundits have in the past month worked overtime to live up to President Donald Trump’s worst estimations of their performance.
Hot on the heels of the Covington Boys fiasco has come another fake news extravaganza involving a TV star and “redneck Trumpsters”.
Three weeks ago in the early hours of a freezing cold Chicago morning a black actor, Jussie Smollett, was reported to be the victim of a vicious attack by a couple of Trump-supporting miscreants “yelling racial and homophobic slurs”.
JUSSIE SMOLLETT ‘STAGED’ RACIST ATTACK: POLICE
SMOLLETT ALLEGEDLY REHEARSED, PAID FRIENDS FOR ATTACK
The media immediately went into overdrive with the harrowing account of white supremacists bashing and pouring an unknown chemical substance, speculated to be bleach, on Smollett before wrapping a noose around his neck.
The Empire star, who has long been an outspoken critic of Trump, told police the perpetrators yelled “this is MAGA country, n---er” during the attack, referring to Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan.
Smollett then explained to ABC why he was targeted. “I come really really hard against 45 (Trump),” he said.
For the bulk of the media, who have been in the midst an anti-Trump orgy for almost three years and in the process lost all semblance of objectivity and judiciousness, it was a story sent from the gods.
Here was a hate crime involving a celebrity who happened to be black and gay and the culprits were violent, racist homophobes who perfectly fit the ugly stereotype that many in the media bubble have about Trump supporters.
Singer John Legend took a break from posting anti-Trump tweets to send a message of support to Jussie for the “horrific attack” as did a host of other celebrities including Academy Award-winning actor Viola Davis.
Juno star Ellen Page blamed Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence for the assault on The Late Show; a clip of her impassioned speech has more than 17 million views on Twitter alone.
Activist actor Alyssa Milano, who has said “the red MAGA hat is the new (KKK) white hood” was outraged.
Emmy nominee Billy Eichner tweeted: “Heartbroken and furious reading about the attack on @JussieSmollett. I want Trump and all MAGA lunatics to burn in Hell.”
Just about every single high-profile Democrat, including leading presidential nominees jumped in to comment before any facts were established.
Kamala Harris and Cory Booker called it “an attempted modern day lynching” while Nancy Pelosi said the “racist, homophobic attack is an affront to our humanity”.
There was no pause from politicians nor the media to reflect on the improbability of what was being claimed.
The fact that there was no evidence of the assault, no witnesses and no CCTV footage.
The fact that it was below freezing when the alleged attack happened and that downtown Chicago is about the last place you’d find a couple of white supremacists who happen to recognise Smollett and yell “Empire fa---t” and “Empire n---er” and are ready to attack with rope and bleach.
Further stretching the realms of believability was the fact that Smollett managed to hold on to his Subway sandwich throughout the “vicious” attack despite his claim that he “fought the f--k back”.
His manager Brandon Z. Moore claimed he was on the phone with the actor throughout the assault and heard the scuffle and racial slur but both he and Smollett refused to hand over their phones to police.
There were plenty of other inconsistencies that should’ve given sane people pause.
But the bulk of the media swallowed the insanely implausible story because it so perfectly fit their twisted anti-Trump narrative.
Indeed, those who asked pertinent questions about key aspects of the story were shouted down as callous bigots.
But the story stunk to high heaven from day one, which is why so many conservative and libertarian commentators felt comfortable questioning it despite the predictable backlash from the Left-wing press.
It didn’t surprise many of us that when police arrested two men last week they were not white, MAGA-hat wearing bigots that the media had painted, but two musclebound African-American brothers known to the alleged victim.
Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, who some media outlets have called Nigerian, have since been released without charge.
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CBS, CNN and other outlets are reporting that they are assisting police and have admitted being involved in what has been described as an elaborate hoax.
There are unconfirmed reports that the brothers were paid $US3500 by Smollett to stage the rehearsed assault and they have admitted to purchasing red hats and rope to use in the attack.
Meanwhile, Smollett has hired lawyers and doubled down on his story.
Police are seeking to reinterview him.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
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