Jussie Smollett attacked with bleach and noose

[LittleRaven]

It's not about recovery.

Scenes featuring Jussie Smollett on the hit TV show “Empire” have been drastically cut amid the whirlwind of controversy surrounding his alleged hate attack, according to a report Tuesday.

The actor, who plays gay singer-songwriter Jamal Lyon on the show, was supposed to have nine scenes and a big musical performance in the second-to-last episode of Season 5, production sources told TMZ.

But five scenes and the musical number have been axed.

Smollett’s character is also no longer the focus of his remaining four scenes, which will now feature an ensemble of characters.

...

“Empire” scriptwriters have been scrambling over the last 24 hours to revise this season’s scripts.

Fox is preparing to jettison Smollett, which is probably wise at this point.

[Philistine]

And now investigators are looking at whether Smollett was behind a previous, less-publicized incident.

CHICAGO (CBS) — The two brothers involved in the Jussie Smollett attack told police that Smollett was behind creating a racist letter that was sent to the actor on the set of his show, “Empire,” according to two sources with first-hand knowledge of the investigation.

And when that letter did not get a “bigger reaction,” Smollett orchestrated the attack a week later with the two men–Ola and Abel Osundairo, sources said. Also Tuesday, sources said the two brothers were seen on a ride share video camera before being dropped off near the location of the attack.

Some things to keep in mind: Nobody has been convicted of anything yet. Anonymous sources aren't always reliable. And due process is absolutely due (though it's amusing to see how many people's belief in that concept waxes and wanes based on the nature and target of various allegations). But whomever sent the threatening letter to Smollett committed a federal crime when they dropped it into the US Mail, and a conviction will result in federal time.

[bronnt]

Unless there's a major reversal at this point, the assault seems faked, and seems like it might be an attempt for Smollett to raise his own profile. To some extent it worked, since a lot of people (like me) who had never heard of him now know who he is. But it's distressing how many of these instances turn out to be fakes attempting to further a narrative that we live in a dangerous world when it's not historically accurate.

Whether or not the mail is linked will likely be established-the FBI did get involved with this case. At this point, I'm kind of hoping it's linked just because it would reduce the number of assholes involved in this story from two to one. But we'll wait and see.

[Madner Kami]

I wish such people would or could be punished in a way, that reflects the damage they are doing society at large with such actions and the disservice they do to real victims.

[LittleRaven]

The Cook County State's Attorney has recused herself from the case.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has recused herself from the investigation surrounding the alleged attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, her office told ABC News on Tuesday.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the decision to recuse herself was made to address potential questions of impartiality based upon familiarity with potential witnesses in the case," a spokeswoman told ABC News via email.

First Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Magats will act as the state's attorney for this matter, a spokeswoman for Foxx's office said.

I don't see why she would do that unless charges were about to start incoming.

And Madner, you needn't worry. Orchestrating the assault was one thing. Messing with the mail was quite another.

On Friday, Jan. 18th, a letter was dropped into a mailbox in Chicago’s southwest suburbs.

The envelope was addressed in childlike scrawl to Empire TV star Jussie Smollett at Cinespace Studios, a West Side production facility that the Fox program calls home. “MAGA”—the acronym for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan “Make America Great Again”—was sloppily written in the return address space.

Four days later and about eleven miles away, the letter found its way to Smollett.

Something about the envelope must have raised concerns. Smollett would later tell police that he and Empire’s executive producer donned gloves before they opened it and exposed themselves to a threat letter covered in white powder. Police logged the time as 2:30 p.m.

The powder was later determined to be crushed Tylenol, according to reports. But the letter addressed to Smollett depicted a curly-haired stick figure being hanged by another stick figure with a noose.

...

Whoever mailed the letter "made an enormous mistake," we were told. Federal charges were "certain."

"This is not a whodunit. It's a how-many-people-dunit."

A law firm partner who asked not to be identified by name spoke with us about the federal problems ahead for whoever mailed the letter: “If they have Smollett on the letter, he’ll be facing ’terroristic hoax’ charges, a felony. There may be federal obstruction charges as well.”

All in all, the federal legal options are numerous: “If they want to bury him, they can.”

Do NOT fuck with the mail. Seriously.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Jesus crap there's way more about this event to talk about than I would have guessed.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

@__@ Jeepers.

[Robovski]

Chicago police say that US actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with filing a false police report.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47313172

[Darth Wedgius]

And he's been arrested. Assuming this was a fake attack, it could have been a lot worse. Imagine if there'd been riots or reprisal attacks.

[clearspira]

Now we know that this crap is fake, shall we get back to that ludicrous first post talking about MAGA country? Bit embarrassing now we know that it had nothing to do with Trump, innit? Almost as if jumping to conclusions is fool's work.