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Is 'Empire' Star Jussie Smollett's Story Falling Apart?
PJ Media ^ | 2/12/2019 | Tyler O'Neil

Posted on 02/13/2019 5:12:23 AM PST by simpson96

Chicago police say they will be requesting more phone records from "Empire" star Jussie Smollett regarding the racist and homophobic attack he allegedly faced two weeks ago. Smollett has turned over heavily redacted phone records, but evidence has begun to emerge suggesting his story was fabricated. Rumors are swirling that police are even considering charging him with filing a false report.

On Monday night, Fox 32 Chicago anchor Rafer Weigel reported that police "received cell phone records today from Smollett's camp. They were limited and redacted but detectives will analyze them."

Weigel had previously reported that the police superintendent plans to hold Smollett accountable if the investigation reveals he made a false report. "[Chicago Police Superintendent] Eddie Johnson says [Jussie Smollett] is still being treated as the victim in this case but if the investigation does reveal he made a false report he will be held accountable," he tweeted. That threat seems more likely.

Late Monday evening, ABC7 Chicago reported that an empty hot sauce bottle that smelled like bleach was found near the location of the alleged attack. Smollett had told police that the attackers — who wore "Make America Great Again" hats and screamed "This is MAGA country!" — had poured an unknown bleach-smelling liquid on him and put a noose around his neck after they yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him at 2 a.m. on January 29.

Chicago police confirmed a New York Post story about the hot sauce bottle.

"It's unclear if that is related to the incident as it was not discovered during any of the earlier canvasses but we took it for analysis," Chicago Police Department (CPD) spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. "The FBI is providing CPD with technical assistance on this case at our request. I'm not sure if the bottle went to their lab or one of ours."

As for the phone records, Guglielmi said, "We are very appreciative of the victim's cooperation, however, the records provided do not meet the burden for a criminal investigation as they were limited and heavily redacted. Detectives may be following up with him to request additional data to corroborate the investigative timeline."

Chicago police have not been able to identify any legitimate suspects in the case, nor have they been able to find any surveillance footage of the attack. There is speculation that the hot sauce bottle may have been placed after the fact to prop up the hoax if Smollett indeed made a false report.

Some locals smell a rat.

"I don’t believe it happened the way he said it did," Chicago resident Agin Muhammad told the New York Post. Muhammad reportedly lives in the same high-rise as Smollett.

"I’ve been in this neighborhood five years. I don’t believe it, not around here…. Half the people are gay and the other half are black."

In "Empire," Smollett plays a gay character, Jamal Lyon. The actor has also come out as gay.

Many Americans are waking up to the possibility that Jussie Smollett's story may be a hoax. Jeff Giesea, an entrepreneur who has written for NATO and the Harvard Business Review, tweeted, "The weight of evidence supports what we’ve suspected all along: This is a hate hoax. [Jussie Smollett] should be arrested for filing a false police report & sued. In this era of disinfo, these hoaxes and their media enablers must be held accountable."

Conservative blogger Matt Walsh laid out the basic incongruity of Smollett's story: "he claims he was attacked by white Trump-loving racists in one of the most liberal parts of one of the most liberal cities in America. No similar attacks have been reported by anyone in the town."

"He's on camera walking down the street. There is only a 60 second gap where he is not on camera, he claims the attack just so happened to occur during that gap," Walsh continued. "But cameras don't pick up anyone fitting the description of the suspects. If they exist, they must have vanished into thin air. Also, Smollett claims he was on the phone during the attack but didn't want to turn his phone over to police."

"Finally he did turn his phone records over, but redacted them so heavily as to make them useless. Oh and his own neighbors think the story is totally bogus," Walsh added. "If this guy wasn't a celebrity, police would have already charged him with filing a false report. The story was clearly bogus from the get go, and only became more bogus with each new revelation."

Quillette's Andy Ngo noted that the very person who said he could hear the attackers over the phone himself refused to let police examine the phone.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: chicago; empire; hoax; jussie; smollett
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1 posted on 02/13/2019 5:12:23 AM PST by simpson96
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To: simpson96

The media is controlling even our narrative. This guy is a nobody.

The Clintons still walk free.


2 posted on 02/13/2019 5:15:36 AM PST by Celerity
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To: simpson96
Chicago police say they will be requesting more phone records from "Empire" star Jussie Smollett

WTH is this "requesting" BS? They should tell him to produce the unredacted, full transcript or they will charge him with falsifying a report and obstruction.

3 posted on 02/13/2019 5:16:19 AM PST by ScottinVA (The most urgent gathering threat to America: the Democrat Party.)
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To: simpson96

The only two reasons his phone was so heavily redacted could be a) he’s making up the crime and the phone proves it or b) he’s into something else illegal (think child porn).

Maybe both!


4 posted on 02/13/2019 5:16:52 AM PST by JudyinCanada
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To: simpson96
Half the people are gay and the other half are black.

Interesting breakdown.

Half the people are gay. The other half is black.

So, within the black side, there are no gays? And the gay half are all white?

There must be a third half, to account for the rest of the LGBTQ community.
5 posted on 02/13/2019 5:21:18 AM PST by adorno
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To: simpson96

Accusations by liberals that someone violated them by committing a “hate” crime are generally a version of drama queen virtue signaling. I no longer read them. The whole concept of a “hate” crime encourages this abuse. An action is either a crime or it is not. Period. Calling it a “hate” crime requires knowing what was going on inside the perpetrators head. Ridiculous.


6 posted on 02/13/2019 5:22:01 AM PST by Gen.Blather
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To: JudyinCanada
The only two reasons his phone was so heavily redacted could be a) he’s making up the crime and the phone proves it or b) he’s into something else illegal (think child porn). Maybe both!

There is an infinity of reasons to avoid handing over the phone.

He could be protecting a bi-sexual lover who does not want his wife to know of the affair.

There could be many other posibilities. He might want to cover up a donation to President Trump, for example.

Maybe he used the word "Indian" when it was not politically correct.

The preponderance of the evidence agrees with your interpretation.

7 posted on 02/13/2019 5:25:16 AM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: JudyinCanada
The police could get his phone records directly from the phone company. They only requested them from him to see how he'd respond. His response makes him appear like he is hiding something ... which is what the police suspected.

There's a 3rd possibility for why he redacted the phone records. The assault may have been a gay lovers quarrel, and he's trying to hide the identity of his attacker.

8 posted on 02/13/2019 5:27:03 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
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To: simpson96
They have enough evidence to charge him w filing a false report.

Charge him and then you can compel the complete phone records.

9 posted on 02/13/2019 5:27:24 AM PST by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
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To: simpson96

unprecedented


10 posted on 02/13/2019 5:27:39 AM PST by ConservativeDude
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To: simpson96

I’ve have had to get subpoenas for phone records.

You do not need HIS billing statement. You get the actual records/call log, via a subpoena to his service provider ......... I say again

You do not need HIS billing statement. You get the actual records/call log, via a subpoena to his service provider ......... I say again

You do not need HIS billing statement. You get the actual records/call log, via a subpoena to his service provider ......... I say again

You do not need HIS billing statement. You get the actual records/call log, via a subpoena to his service provider

Now, if they want to his text messages and voicemails, they need his phone and consent to search or a warrant.

He’s making CPD look like fools and its leadership is allowing it to happen because he’s black, liberal and gay. And he’s trying to knock down the President. They, being city leadership, is allowing this to happen. I’d be willing to bet that the detectives working the case would love to take out a warrant on the guy and put him in Cook County Jail, but that ain’t gonna happen. They already know he’s lying. They’re doing their level best to change the narrative. But, nothing will happen to the guy and they’ll come up with something lame like, there isn’t conclusive evidence one way or the other, until more information becomes available the case is suspended. Of course, that is going to be after a phone call is made to his attorney advising that they know he’s lying but he should keep his mouth shut and never utter another word.


11 posted on 02/13/2019 5:32:11 AM PST by qaz123
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To: simpson96

They should look at Home Depot security cameras and see if they can spot him buying the rope.


12 posted on 02/13/2019 5:33:55 AM PST by beef (The more they tighten their grip, the more blogs will slip through their fingers.)
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To: Gen.Blather
The whole concept of a “hate” crime encourages this abuse.

Very true.

And trying to find an incidence of a member of a minority group committing a hate crime is like trying to find the White Buffalo.

13 posted on 02/13/2019 5:34:16 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit)
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To: Celerity

Did this “nobody” ever really have a story? This sounds like the broken excuses of a sixth-grader schoolboy hauled before the principal, after he has used a rubber band to snap one of his classmates in the rump during study hall.

It is only funny for a few seconds.


14 posted on 02/13/2019 5:34:32 AM PST by alloysteel (History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. - Winston Churchill)
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To: simpson96

What gets me is not so much the lie, but the fact that these guys thought that this was an actual airtight story that would pass the smell test.


15 posted on 02/13/2019 5:35:11 AM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: simpson96

Redacted phone records. Who does he think he is, the FBI?


16 posted on 02/13/2019 5:37:26 AM PST by Flick Lives
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To: adorno

I think that statement was a rhetorical device. It does not have to be analysed mathematically.


17 posted on 02/13/2019 5:37:35 AM PST by beef (The more they tighten their grip, the more blogs will slip through their fingers.)
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To: simpson96

This is just more leftist street threatre to advance their narrative. Very reminiscent of the Tawana Brawley and Duke lacrosse farce. And why not? Made Al Sharpton a fortune and the clowns at Duke who propagated the nonsense are still in charge with higher salaries.


18 posted on 02/13/2019 5:38:03 AM PST by allendale (.)
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To: simpson96
Many Americans are waking up to the possibility that Jussie Smollett's story may be a hoax.

And many, such as myself, are waking up to the very definite possibility that they simply don't give a rat's patootie as to what machinations a simpering swish of a would-be faggot actor engaged in with the intent of furthering his faltering "career".

Put this POS in the jail, then go out and expend a fourth of all this "investigative" effort into the Clinton Crime Family.

But then, that doesn't fit your narrative, does it, Fake News!

19 posted on 02/13/2019 5:38:59 AM PST by Snake Skin Sonny
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To: qaz123

They probably already have the phone records related to the incident. They wanted to see what they would get from him, which on the surface appears to be deceptive.


20 posted on 02/13/2019 5:39:09 AM PST by PSUGOP
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