Predictably and unashamed, the right-wing could not wait to point fingers at the “woke snowflakes” who supported the story of actor Jussie Smollett’s hoax. For those of you who are unaware of the Smollett tale, the one-time co-star of the tv series ‘Empire’ made up a fantastical story about his attempted lynching on a Chicago street. We live in an era where the story of a black gay man being openly accosted on a street where his attackers used every racial meme but calling him Django was plausible. Of course, the usual gathering of racists, homophobes, and peanut-brained trolls assembled when the horn blew at Fox News. No talk or discussions of drug abuse (which has been suggested by some of Mr. Smollett’s friends) or mental health was offered because the narrative had to be—the dumb liberals fell for it.
On the same day, one of the conservative superheroes of the real-life The Handmaid’s Tale, Josh Duggar, was convicted of possessing child porn; talk of Smollett, who deserved conviction, instead, dominated the right-wing Twitter-verse. Mr. Smollett’s crime was never a cause célèbre or genuine concern in the black community. In the words of comic Dave Chappelle, who ascribed the non de plume of Juicy Smollyay to Mr. Smollett said, African Americans were “oddly quiet” on the subject. Adding, [Smollett] was “clearly lying,” said Chappelle. “None of these details added up at all,” he concluded. Chappelle hilariously added his spin to a conversation between Smollett and Chicago police:
Chappelle: “Okay, you left the house at 2 a.m.; it’s minus 16 degrees. You were walking, you were walking—all riiiight. And... and where were you going? Subway. Sandwiches? That’s when the men approached you... what did they have on? MAGA hats? MAGA hats in Chicago... [aside to another police officer] Find out where KanyeWest was last night...”
That was not the first time a black comic has acted as an early warning system. In 1994 South Carolinian Susan Smith, now 49, is awaiting her first parole hearing in four years. Smith, if you remember, said a black man carjacked her van with her three and 14-year-olds strapped in. Immediately every black man within a 100-mile radius of Union City, South Carolina was under suspicion. About nine or ten days of teary-eyed television appearances followed until it was discovered Ms. Smith drowned her children in a nearby lake.
Comedian Steve Harvey criticized the press, the authorities, and anyone who believed her story with a now-famous and macabrely funny routine: NSFW, Mature theme:
It becomes easier to laugh at the pain in the black community, especially when you are used to it. The problem with Mr. Smollett is that he has not at last, of this writing, admitted his story is the product of his fevered dreams. The attempt to blame a fictional group of MAGA followers gives them fodder to deny their bigotry, racism, and homophobia. For years when black people would make accusations of hideous crimes against their person, for the crime of being black, white America would react with, pssst, impossible. Black people have no emotional investment in backing Mr. Smollett or any other man or woman who lies for pity, self-aggrandizement, or money. As a black American, I do have an investment in the truth. Enough truth exists to make Jussie Smollett a blip on the radar. He is a man who does not need my pity or scorn, but he does need help.
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