The two Nigerians have now been arrested, and are in custody. Not charged (yet) in the Smollett incident, but let’s give it some time. (They are officially being called “suspects.”) No doubt people are trying to figure out how to extricate Smollett from involvement in this hoax.
@Knowsstuff What area does he live?
This is a typical sort of violence in Chicago that wouldn’t surprise you? Being assaulted by people yelling “MAGA”, awful slurs, throwing bleach and putting a noose around someone’s neck? I guess these guys just carry a noose around, looking for an opportunity. I consider this not just assault, but terrorism.
@partyof5. In Streeterville https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streeterville
I would like to retract my statement of two white guys as assultants. I read it last night but can’t find where.
@busdriver11 no not at all but having something thrown in your face, yes. It was happening on the “El” tracks in the city last year. It never gets reported since it’s local news.
There are a lot of attacks that go unreported to the national media happening daily on the South and West sides of the city. It becomes a bigger deal when it starts to enter the areas where I live or when a known person is attacked.
It is horrible either way.
Check the Cleary Act Reports for UofC. There is no crime in Chicago.
Anyone walking around Chicago in a MAGA hat will be the one getting beat on, not the one doing the beating.
There are no reports of a MAGA hat tied to the Jussie attack.
@Knowsstuff thanks! I’m familiar with Streeterville. I love to visit a restaurant there called Beatrix, the pancakes are heavenly.
@partyof5. Yes, Chicago is blessed with many fine restraunts. I will have to check out what you suggest. Love going out for breakfast.
CNN reporting that arrests have been made.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/entertainment/jussie-smollett-suspects/index.html
No MAGA hats were involved.
I think you underestimate the depth of some people’s antipathy to gays.
I’m confused. Two Nigerian brothers were not only using homophobic slurs, but they were also using racist terminology? And one of the brothers has appeared on the same show as the victim?
This is just bizarre.
I think it’s a hoax too. Chicago is a very liberal city - it’s probably more dangerous to wear a MAGA hat than it is to be a gay black man.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Per the rules of the forum:
https://www.collegeconfidential.com/policies/rules/
Users should state their position once, defend it once, and then move on. I’ll add the following exceptions - state **once/b that it was/was not a hoax or that there was/was not a MAGA hat or what {in your opinion) will happen if one wears a MAGA hat in Chicago.
Can a false police report be a hate crime in a situation like this?
I agree that reporting to the police a crime that did not occur is bad. But I sense that some of the people on this thread are discussing this situation not because of their concern about false reports of crime but because they think or want to convince others that hate crimes do not occur. It is clear: hate exists, hate crimes take place.
I do not read any of these comments as trying to say hate crimes do not occur. I read them as being dismayed that someone would lie about such a thing, how the story was questionable from the start and that it is a complete waste of police resources.
If it is a false story, of hope all participants are charged accordingly.
Didn’t it take place at a time when Chicago police asked criminals to kindly avoid getting outside for their usual business due to the extreme cold and to avoid having to send officers out?
There are cameras everywhere in Chicago. You’d have to be stupid and unaware of cameras to stage something under cameras.
Liquid thrown at you isn’t that rare - it’s one of the most common forms of aggression in London along with knife wounds. Yesterday and today there were incidents in Paris, where it’s pretty new. I’m guessing Chicago crime is a bit more hip than Paris crime. The only surprising thing was the noose, as this would imply targeting with intent and planning, whereas the liquid throwing crimes are either of the spurnned lover who wants to disfigure or random crime. So the two aspects don’t match, but creative criminals do exist.
Attacks against gay people or black people shouldn’t surprise anyone - that a Black gay man was attacked isn’t in and of itself suspicious.
(Note that in Nigeria attacking an out gay man would be considered normal, not a crime.)
In fact, all elements COULD be true just as they could be staged. It’s disheartening that we should even discuss the possibility that this might be a lie, because advocates have had such a hard time making everyone aware of the severity of hate crimes.(I still remember a police officer explaining that minorities attracted hate crimes, if they behaved hate crimes wouldn’t exist, proof, Asians being the model minority were never the victims of hate crimes. … Let all of those things sink in. I wonder if I still have my notes as I think one day they could be artifacts sold at an auction depicting backward barbarians of the past… Gays attracting criminals because they’re gay and their appearance/behavior is in itself a provocation was also commonly believed. I’m not talking in the dark ages, I’m talking in the 1990s.)
Because hate crimes exist, are on the rise, are so difficult to denounce and prove and prosecute, if this is a hoax I sure hope they all get charged and obviously Smolett’s career is toast.
The fact Empire is standing behind him is positive for him and as a sign that it’s not a hoax.
Also, WHY in the world would he do that? He’s got top billing as a star on a super popular TV show, he’s achieved “the dream” for all actors. There’s no motivation for a staged attack.
He has refuted reports claiming he told police his attackers wore Make America Great Again hats.
However, given he did state his assailants were white, this statement might appear a little racist:
“…I don’t need some MAGA hat as the cherry on some racist sundae.” :)) :))
“I hoped I was wrong, but something was not sitting well with this story.”
Lifelong Chicagoan here. It was super extremely mega cold that night from the perspective of native-born Chicagoans. 9 below zero is not normal here. There is a lot less street crime on dangerously cold nights like that. Muggers don’t want frostbite, either. People committing hate crimes for fun, as opposed to people trying to make their money from street crime, wouldn’t usually pick that kind of night.
Also, downtown Chicago is positively plastered with security cameras. To exit a vulnerable late-night business like a Subway and get pulled into a beating within camera blind spots sounds like extraordinary bad luck. Not impossible, just surprising.
So I don’t know what happened, but those two things immediately stuck me as weird. I’m a bedwetting liberal, if that matters.