First off, MSNBC’s tweet. It wasn’t Jussie Smollett’s guilty verdict that screwed hate crime victims, it was Jussie Smollett himself…
Jussie Smollett's guilty verdict just made it even harder for victims of hate crimes, @ZachStafford writes.
Then then the headline and intro. MSNBC highlights the impact on LGBT when the episode actually would impact anyone trying to report a hate crime…
Jussie Smollett being found guilty of hoax will hurt LGBTQ folks reporting hate crimes
Jussie Smollett guilty verdict will be used by Trump supporters to prove Democrats wrongly label them villains.
Then some odd bits from the op-ed itself…
It doesn’t matter if the actor, who starred on “Empire,” really was beaten up by people yelling “This is MAGA country!” and is wrongly being punished or if he did stage an elaborate hoax, as the jury decided he did by finding him guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct.
Stafford gets it wrong there. The jury didn’t decide it was a hoax. That was a given. Smollett settled with the first round of prosecutors and the city last year. All the jury decided was that the hoax was felony level disorderly conduct.
When the actor said in January 2019 that two men wearing masks subjected him to a racist and homophobic attack near his home in Chicago, an overwhelming outcry followed. The actor initially garnered sympathy across the political spectrum, which, during our current era, is uncommon.
Not sure how Stafford thinks the hoax induced sympathy came from the entire spectrum, as conservatives quickly called it out as an obvious hoax.
Reaction to the piece was predictably critical.
Trump’s lawyer and NewsMax host Jenna Ellis:
Jussie Smollett’s FAKING A HATE CRIME made it harder for victims of actual hate crimes.
Fixed it for you morons. 🙄
@redsteeze
"Why the people who were right to be skeptical about Jussie Smollett are actually wrong."
This is worded very poorly. The blame should 100% be blamed on Jussie and anyone who believed the story in the first place
