The Man Who Cried MAGA

Introduction

For those who haven’t been following the Jussie Smollett
case, several weeks ago, the Empire star claimed two hooded men wearing
“Make America Great Again” hats assaulted him late one night, while
he was on this way back from a Subway shop in Chicago.

 He claimed the men
called him racial and gay slurs, made reference to this being “MAGA
country,” fought him, and then poured bleach on him and put a noose around
his neck.

However, in the weeks since he first made this claim, police
have arrested two men in connection with this crime, whom it turns out were
Nigerian extras on the show Empire and knew Mr. Smollett.

 Furthermore, these
men allege Mr. Smollett paid them $3500 to fake the attack because he wasn’t
happy with what he was being paid.

Now, I’ll reserve judgement until more facts come out about
this case, but it doesn’t look good for Mr. Smollett.

IF He Lied

If this incident does turns out to be a hoax, then Mr.
Smollett should not only serve jail time for making a false police report, but
he should pay restitution, plus interest t to the Chicago Police Department for
all the resources they wasted on his case.

Moreover, by lying about this incident, it makes it less
likely that investigators will believe the victims of actual hate crimes, and
more likely that people will carry out hate crimes based on the belief they
won’t get caught, and if they do, they can just say their victims are lying.

He owes an apology to the Black community and the LGBTQ+
community, two marginalized groups with overlap that continue to be victimized.

By playing upon both racial fears and homophobia in this attack, Mr. Smollett ratcheted up the already tense mental states of people from these and other marginalized groups who have been on edge ever since Mr. Trump’s election, which combined with  his inflammatory rhetoric and support of white supremacists and neo-Nazis, has led to a sharp increase in hate crimes.

Now every marginalized person will have the worry at the
back of their minds that if they are the victim of a hate crime, will they
believed? And all because Jussie Smollett wasn’t happy with his paycheck and
cried wolf.

Furthermore, if Mr. Smollett lied about this attack, he will
have played right into the narratives some on the right have about liberals
being unscrupulous liars who will say and do anything to denigrate Mr. Trump
and his supporters, and then play the victim card when things don’t go their
way.

Conclusion

I don’t claim to speak for either the black or LGBTQ+
communities. I’m simply stating my frustrations at Mr. Smollett’s alleged
actions. As a queer black person, I could readily put myself in his shoes, and
I know many others could as well, which is why the possibility of his lying is
so infuriating.

If this was all about money, he could have taken many other
routes that didn’t involve staging a hate crime.

He could have held out until the end of his contract with
Fox, and then played hard with them, or he could have left Empire and joined a
show that valued his talents.

Leveraging social media, he could have had his fans threaten
to boycott Empire and Fox unless they paid him what he thought he was worth.

 Crowd founding a
project starring him for Hulu, Amazon Prime, or Netflix is another route he
could have taken.

Mr. Smollett could have also started a patreon account and
shared exclusive demos and songs with his followers if he was so strapped for
cash.

He didn’t have to pull this hoax, if that’s what this turns
out to be. And he didn’t have to play on people’s fears in such a visceral and
heinous way.

So if this is a hoax, then I say to him, “Fuck you!” 

Call to Action

Why do you think? Let me know in the comments, and share
this if you liked it.

T