Actor Jussie Smollett has been indicted by a grand jury on six charges of disorderly conduct, according to Special Prosecutor Dan Webb.

“A Cook County grand jury returned a six-count indictment charging Jussie Smollett with making four separate false reports to Chicago Police Department officers related to his false claims that he was the victim of a hate crime, knowing that he was not the victim of a crime,” the Special Prosecutor’s office said.

In addition, the city of Chicago is continuing its $500,000 lawsuit against Smollett to recover the cost of the investigation into his hoax.

You’ll remember that last year, “Empire” star Jussie Smollett staged a fake hate crime, alleging that two men had jumped him while he was on his way to Subway to grab a salad. This purportedly occurred at two o’clock in the morning, during winter in Chicago in subzero temperatures.

He said that while walking back to his hotel, two masked attackers taunted him with racial and homophobic slurs and punched him in the face while saying, “this is MAGA country.” A tussle ensued where the two assailants placed a noose around his neck, covered him in bleach and then ran off.

The media ran wild with the story. ABC News’ Robin Roberts gave Smollett a one-on-one interview, not even hinting that such a ludicrous story may have been staged. Robins even previewed the interview saying that Smollett would be given the chance to “respond those who doubt his account.” 

In the interview Smollett claimed that he was angry with those who didn’t believe his account. With tears glistening in his eyes, he mused, “How can you doubt that? How do you not believe that? It’s the truth. And then it became, oh, it’s not necessarily that you don’t believe that this is the truth. You don’t even want to see the truth.”

You must give Smollett credit, he lived up to his titled as an actor.

Smollett’s story gave the media a perfect angle to claim that two racist Trump supporters attacked an African American homosexual, playing into their narrative that those who voted for President Trump must have racist, bigoted tendencies.

Often, media personalities push the same narrative of those seeking the Democrat presidential nomination.

It’s intriguing that fake hate crimes intended to make conservatives look bad receive a breathless amount of coverage from the media. Yet, a real attack by a man who drove his van into a tent of Trump supporters has received comparatively no coverage. 

Let’s hope that anyone who may think of staging a fake crime will learn from Smollett’s mistake. Further fracturing our Republic with political hoaxes and costing law enforcement hundreds of thousands of dollars, and hundreds of man hours isn’t worth it. Faking crimes doesn’t pay.

 

You can follow this author on Twitter @MettlerZachary

 

Photo from the Chicago Police Department