Photo Credit: Jussie Smollett/Twitter
Jussie Smollett was charged with 16 indictments Friday, March the 8th. It was a single charge for each lie he told and since he spoke to the Chicago police twice, that’s a lot of lying. And once the letter sent in the mail with powder in it is out of the FBI crime lab, that’s going to be another set of possible charges. So far this is near a total of 50 charges and you would be surprised at who is advocating for him to get the entire book thrown at him? Al Sharpton. During his Sunday taping of his show Politics Nation on MSNBC, he stated, “If it is found that Smollett and these gentlemen did in some way perpetrate something that is not true, they ought to face accountability to the maximum.”
Now to claim he wants Smollett to get the maximum is quite extreme for a civil rights leader as they usually are against over sentencing. Even as a person who feels the facts are pretty d*mning against Smollett at the moment and feel he should receive punsihment for what he did, facing all of his charges is just absurd. Fellow activist Marc Lamont Hill stated that he felt the charges were excessive, but we have to keep in mind that he hasn’t been sentenced yet. There’s actually a chance he could get all probation for every charge, so that’s a bit of a premature assessment.
Sharpton went on to say he was awaiting for all evidence to come in before making his judgment. “I among many others when hearing of the reports said the reports were horrific and that we should come with all that we can come with in law enforcement to find out what happened and the guilty should suffer the maximum. I still maintain that,” he said. “Let’s not act like this is some left wing hoax that some are saying on social media. President Trump called this horrible and he’s certainly not a left winger.”
The two Nigerian brothers Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairowho have been alleged to have conducted the attack on Smollett for $3,500 have apologized to the general public for their role in the matter and spoken through their attorney Gloria Schmidt again showing remorse. Their lawyer said they feel “taken advantage of” and are now simply trying to “piece their lives together,” they told ABC News. “What I can tell you right now is the tremendous regret that they have over their involvement in this situation,” Schmidt told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America Monday morning.
There are people who have made the comparison that Smollett lied and so has everyone else, asking why is he getting such a punishment. That’s because most of us don’t tell lies that incur a list of felonies, clear buildings due to potential terrorist acts or cause scores of people to lose their jobs. When Smollett went to the Emergency room at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago, dozens of nurses were fired for violating HIPPA privacy laws looking at his file. On top of that, Empire has not been renewed for another season, making the cast concerned about their future filming the show. Then you have to take into account the hundreds of production staff involved in the making of the show. Usually the show gets renewed by January, five months before the final episode so tensions are pretty high right now. A source has also said there are “serious reservations” about having Smollett return and for obvious reasons.
Smollett’s attorney, Hollywood heavyweight Mark Geragostold People Magazine in a statement he felt this was “prosecutorial overkill.” The statement read: “The fact of an indictment was not unexpected. We knew that there is no way they would expose their evidence to a public airing and subject their witnesses to cross-examination. What is unexpected, however, is the prosecutorial overkill in charging 16 separate counts against Jussie.” It continued: ‘This redundant and vindictive indictment is nothing more than a desperate attempt to make headlines in order to distract from the internal investigation launched to investigate the outrageous leaking of false information by the Chicago Police Department and the shameless and illegal invasion of Jussie’s privacy in tampering with his medical records. ‘Jussie adamantly maintains his innocence even if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption.”
After his first indictment, there were PR experts who stated his situation had solidified his career dead and unable to be recovered. “Who would want to book him in a movie? Who would want to book him in a show? Who would want to deal with this headache?” Ronn Torossian, a public relations executive said. He’s worked with high profile stars such as Nick Cannon, Diddy and Snoop Dogg. “This isn’t just a hoax. This is about a hoax that touches upon race, sex, and politics,” Torossian said. “I’ve worked on really high-profile crisis issues. I don’t think anybody’s had to work on something like this,” he said. Smollett is due back into court this Thursday. We’ll be reporting back on the results.
