Jussie Smollett

His fame flame has flickered. He is good looking. He is alluring. And he can act. Just not well enough.


So, he cooked up a publicity stunt that went wrong, very wrong. All the evidence is in plain sight. The police did their job by the book. He was offered comfort, protection and attention. As the investigation unfolded it didn’t look promising for him. Because he attracted attention to his own story – a purposeful act – the police continued to do their job.


The only way forward for the police was to charge him with the obvious – pandering for publicity.


The prosecutor assigned to the case bemoaned the waste of public resources on a case of little lasting value. Serious crimes were piled high on his desk for proper attention. So he took the kind way out of the situation: he dropped charges. Smollett was offered a deal and he took it. The deal: community service of 16 hours to Operation Push already performed; relinquishing $10,000 of his bond money; and a statement that the charges were dropped without proof of guilt or innocence. Simple. Done. For both the authorities and Jussie.


Only it wasn’t. Jussie made public claims of his innocence and how he was wronged by public opinion. That drew the prosecutor in for news interviews. He clearly stated he believed Jussie was guilty as charged but simply didn’t want to waste public funds and resources in a jam-packed criminal justice system. There was more important work to focus on that would better protect the safety of the public. A good call, I think. Practical. And hospitable for Jussie.


Now Jussie is between a rock and a hard place. He got himself there all on his own. It is a pity his career is most likely over. Again, he did that to himself.


Oddly, it was his acting that got him here. It just wasn’t good enough to get him where he hoped to go.


I’ll just leave it here. There’s more that can be said. But let’s let it die a simple, quiet death, shall we?


March 29, 2019