Absolutely Devastating: Smollett's Tearful Interview vs. The Police Press Conference Absolutely Devastating: Smollett's Tearful Interview vs. The Police Press Conference https://media.townhall.com/townhall/reu/ha/images/2019/53/48916929-32f6-4db3-b840-966bb155209c.png By now, you know where this fiasco stands.  Alleged hate crime hoaxer and actor Jussie Smollett has been written off of Empire, based on the credible charges against him -- and that's the least of his worries.  Between the crimes he's apparently committed, ranging from lying to police, to filing a false report, to sending threats through the federal mail, Smollett could face years in prison.  If he was dissatisfied with his salary on the show (reportedly at least $65,000 per episode) before this hideous stunt, he's really going to detest what comes next.  It's as if he believed that as a famous, gay, black "victim," no one would think to question his outlandish story, and even if they did, the authorities wouldn't be able to piece together what actually happened.  What a catastrophic miscalculation. There have been some reactions to these revelations that are somewhat sympathetic to Smollett.  He must be "troubled," and his actions are "sad," they say.  While that's certainly true on some level, my sympathy runs dry rather quickly, based on a few facts: First, he didn't merely stage an attack on himself for attention career advancement, which is bad enough; he manipulated people's political fears and hatreds by shamelessly and deliberately smearing Trump supporters.  Second, he very much seemed willing to imperil totally innocent people's freedom, if it meant propping up his own lie: Esoteric Jeff ✔  @EsotericCD Nah bro. He was willing to 'testify' against people he knew to be innocent and attempt to send them to jail, only demurring when he realized, to his chagrin, that CPD had actually caught his fellow conspirators. Mental illness or not, that's wanton cruelty. Seth Mandel ✔  @SethAMandel Jussie Smollett royally messed up, in what’s beginning to look more like a cry for help than anything else. I don’t see how sending him to prison accomplishes that so I hope it doesn’t reach that point. Third, the sociopathy displayed in his Good Morning America interview last week was truly galling.  The Free Beacon's montage juxtaposing Smollett's profoundly creepy performance with the facts laid out in yesterday's Chicago Police press conference is simply devastating.  As you watch this brutal indictment, think about what Associated Press editor decided to frame these lies as "bending" the truth.  Watch to the very end for a delicious pay-off: https://twitter.com/DavidRutz/status/1098664014731714560 David Rutz ✔  @DavidRutz I mashed up the CPD superintendent's press conference with Smollett's trainwreck ABC interview ( FULL STORY IN LINK BLEOW ) https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2019/02/22/absolutely-devastating-the-smollett-interviewpolice-press-conference-mashup-n2542074