Free Republic

Monday marked the five-year anniversary of Joe Biden’s online condemnation of a “hate crime” that never happened. On Jan. 29, 2019, “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, who is black and gay, made national headlines with claims a pair of white supremacist Trump supporters violently attacked him. The actor said his assailants screamed, “This is MAGA country!” in the apparently far-right city of Chicago. “I will never be the man this did not happen to,” Smollett told ABC News in an interview with Robin Roberts two weeks later. By December 2021, Smollett was convicted on five out of six charges over staging...

Vice President Kamala Harris' 2019 post calling Jussie Smollett a victim of attempted "modern day lynching" is still online despite the actor losing his conviction appeal Friday and facing the likelihood of going back to prison. An Illinois appeals court on Friday upheld Smollett's previous conviction on five of the six charges of disorderly conduct in 2021. Smollett had claimed he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two men who were wearing ski masks in January 2019. While police searched for the suspects, an investigation into Smollett led to charges that he planned the whole attack...

An appeals court upheld the disorderly conduct convictions Friday of actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a racist, homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and then lying about it to Chicago police. Smollett, who appeared in the TV show “Empire,” challenged the role of a special prosecutor, jury selection, evidence and many other aspects of the case. But all were turned aside in a 2-1 opinion from the Illinois Appellate Court. Smollett had reported to police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two men wearing ski masks. The manhunt for the attackers...

For the average person, being convicted of a felony means going to prison to serve a sentence. For “special” people like Jussie Smollett, with the backing of powerful Democrats like Michelle Obama, convictions mean freedom through the appeal process so he could direct a movie and hang out with Hollywood’s top wokesters. Now, it appears Smollett may serve the remainder of his tiny 150-day sentence for sparking race wars through his infamous hate hoax. The important word there is “may.” According to TMZ, losing his appeal does not necessarily mean he’s going to jail like normal people. Jussie Smollett just...

The Alabama woman who mysteriously reappeared two days after vanishing when she stopped to help a toddler who was walking on the side of a highway was likely not the target of sex traffickers, according to a report. A human trafficking expert on Monday threw cold water on Carlee Russell’s parents’ suggestion that the tot was used as “bait” to lure the 25-year-old nursing student out of her car and kidnap her. “As far as we are aware, this is not a tactic that traffickers use,” Sabrina Thulander, a spokesperson for Polaris, the nonprofit that runs the National Human Trafficking...

A couple was reportedly assaulted outside of a liquor store after being confronted by a group of men over their suspected purchase of Bud Light beer, police suspect. The incident took place on Saturday night in the city of Vaughn, Ontario, a suburb located just north of Toronto in Canada. York Regional Police said in an official statement that a couple was accosted by a group of three men after leaving a liquor store located on Jane Street and Major Mackenzie Drive West, allegedly targeting the 26-year-old male victim's supposed purchase of Bud Light and using various homophobic insults. When...

Everybody remembers what happened after actor Jussie Smollett claimed in January of 2019 to have been attacked in Chicago by two men shouting racial slurs and claiming “this is MAGA country.” Comedian Dave Chappelle was among those who noticed right away that “none of these details added up at all,” but politicians who really enjoy stoking the flames of racism ran with Smollett’s claim without question. President Biden and VP Harris have tweets that have aged badly and now have Twitter Community Notes attached: Biden got fact checked on Jouicy… https://t.co/aoMRszzSj1 — EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) April 17, 2023 Biden’s getting called...

Emergency personnel have responded after a package with suspicious powder was delivered to the New York City building housing the Manhattan District Attorney's office, according to police. The New York Police Department said the package was delivered by USPS on Friday. No injuries were reported, and as of yet no one has been ordered to evacuate. Police responded to the scene shortly after 12 p.m. This is a developing story and will be updated.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg received a second threatening letter and envelope containing a "white powder" Wednesday afternoon, raising the threat level in the city. The powder was found to be harmless. ABC News reported Wednesday afternoon that police sources told the news outlet that an envelope containing "white powder" and a threatening letter to Bragg was discovered in the basement mailroom at 80 Centre Street around 3 p.m. The New York City Police Department, Department of Environmental Protection, and Office of Emergency Management responded to the scene, the report said. NBC News reported that the powder was determined to...

Early in the morning hours of a polar vortex in January 2019, FOX's "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett claimed two White supremacist Trump supporters attacked him near his Chicago apartment in a racially-motivated hate crime that would soon incite outrage from activists and the media. It's the "hate crime" that dominated headlines, but facts proved none of it was true. In December 2021, the now-40-year-old actor and singer was convicted of five felony counts of disorderly conduct. One year ago, he was sentenced in March 2022 to 150 days in county jail. Brothers Abimbola "Bola" and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo, Smollett's accomplices...

Fox News has doomed Jussie Smollett as the disgraced actor desperately attempts to appeal his conviction for staging an anti-Trump hate crime. Smollett recently announced he is demanding a retrial after he was found guilty of blaming President Donald Trump’s supporters for a fake racial attack. However, the American people have not forgotten what Smollett did or how Chicago prosecutors tried to let him off. Fox will release an exclusive five-part docuseries “Jussie Smollett: Anatomy of a Hoax” on March 13th. John Finley, the streaming platform’s executive vice president, announced the series. The series will feature the first time ever...

Atlanta Black Pride Weekend, the country’s leading LGBTQ+ annual pride prepares for its 26th year with an exciting line-up during the 2022 Labor Day holiday weekend. Taking place in Atlanta, the five-day celebration will include special appearances by: Kandi Burruss, Jussie Smollett, Joseline Hernandez, Natalie Nunn, Stasha Sanchez, Saucy Santana, Big Latto, Jhonni Blaze, Erica Banks, Jerrie Johnson, Melissa “DJ M” Scott. Kicking off on Sept. 1 with an Atlanta Black Pride Weekend Opening Reception presented by the City of Atlanta and Mayor Andre Dickens, additional Pride nightlife events will take place in many of Atlanta’s premiere Midtown venues. **SNIP**...

Jussie Smollett is back in the limelight just 3 months after getting released from prison ... after attending the BET Awards and getting incredulous reactions online. The actor showed up at Sunday night's ceremony in LA, all smiles ... telling ET he's excited to be "expanding his empire." Twitter was on fire as JS walked the red carpet and took his seat ... memes were created in his name, while some called out BET for allowing "race-baiting liars" in its space. Sunday night's host, Taraji P. Henson, has been a vocal supporter of Jussie -- they both worked on "Empire"...

Jussie Smollett starved himself in prison. The 40-year-old actor - who was convicted of lying about being a victim of a racist and homophobic attack back in 2019 and initially sentenced to 150 days in jail in 2021 but was freed after just six days behind bars - admitted that during his brief time behind bars he "fasted" for almost a week in order to achieve a "clear mind." He said: "I was there for six and a half days. I fasted for six and a half days. I was fasting because that's what we do in my family. Like...

Resurfaced video of TV host-turned U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz saying how much he “adores” and “loves” his friend, hate crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett is now going viral online after former President Donald Trump endorsed Oz in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race. “Jussie Smollett, who has been on the show, who we all adore, was recently injured. It’s been called a hate crime,” Dr. Oz said on his show.

Jussie Smollett chided police and prosecutors and declared his innocence in a song released Friday — three weeks after he was sprung from a Chicago jail while his lawyers appeal his conviction for staging a hate crime.

The Empire star, 39, took to Instagram on Friday and posted a lyric video set to his new tune, Thank You God, where he touches on his recent legal troubles •'Some people searching for fame / Some people chasing that clout / Just remember this ... this ain't that situation / You think I'm stupid enough to kill my reputation?' he sings •'Just simply to look like a victim / Like it's something fun / Y'all better look at someone else / You got the wrong one,' he goes on •The actor notes that '100% of the profits' from the...

Two brothers who agreed to attack Jussie Smollett as part of what those brothers now say was a fake hate crime hoax can move forward with a defamation claim against one of Smollett’s attorneys, a federal judge has ruled. According to court records, the two brothers, Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo, sued attorneys Mark Geragos, Tina Glandian, and the Geragos & Geragos Law Firm in 2019. “Mr. Smollett told Plaintiffs, in private, that he needed a favor from them: they were to help him stage a social media hoax and pretend to attack him,” the lawsuit says. “Mr. Smollett’s motivation...

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge in Chicago ruled Friday that an attorney for Jussie Smollett might have defamed two Black brothers who testified that they participated in a fake racist and homophobic attack on the actor when she suggested they had been wearing “whiteface.” U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland’s ruling centers on comments Tina Glandian made on NBC’s “Today” show in March 2019, shortly after the Cook County State’s Attorney announced it was dropping charges accusing Smollett of lying to police about the incident two months earlier. Discussing how Smollett had told police that one of his attackers was white,...

Jussie Smollett’s “unjust” sentencing is proof of the “legal vigilantism” of the “perverted” U.S. justice system where those in power can jail a man because of his skin color, according to a recent Washington Post piece by MSNBC analyst Paul Butler who argued that “sending a Black gay man to jail for lying about being attacked” sends a message to hate crime victims that they may suffer incarceration “if authorities don’t believe their stories.”