Empire in the Media: Read It In Billboard

[SimoneS]

2 hours ago, jsbt said:

I believed Jussie Smollett's story wholeheartedly. It echoed the times we live in. It broke my heart. I was a fan. Now all I do is see red when I think about it. It makes my skin crawl. Shit like this will do untold damage to millions of young and old at-risk black and LGBT people (which includes me) for generations. The right wing will dine out on this case for decades to disenfranchise and invalidate countless tragedies and hate crimes. The media, cowed by the right, will refer back to it regularly. It will become a part of our culture like so many other scandals that are used to whatabout and deflect discussion of social justice and racism and homophobia. It will never go away and bigots will always bring it back. For so many people, it will be more difficult than before. And unfortunately, unlike Jussie Smollett 99% of those people won't have the money and resources to put their lives back together again.

He can presumably cop his plea, take what's left of his money and disappear. His work in this life is clearly accomplished.

You captured my feelings here. I also think about the LGBT community in countries where they are under political and social duress and subjected to incarceration and violence. Smollet's deception which has been big internationally in some countries has played into the hands of their persecutors. I also have noticed the people who oppose the #MeToo Movement have used this to argue that women shouldn't be believed. I think the story will fade in time, but people who are marginalized and attacked are going to feel its effects for a long time. 

Edited February 21, 2019 by SimoneS

[Dee]

Opponents of the MeToo/TimesUp movement(s) have been arguing that it will disappear since the very beginning. And yet, if anything, the movement(s) have grown tremendously in strength & influence.

Victims & survivors are always gonna have a difficult time, regardless of stories such as these.

Hence why there is so little 'mainstream' support for justice for the astronomical number of trans WOC assaulted and/or murdered every year or prosecution for vile scum like Ed Buck.

[Apprentice79]

The police is having a press conference about how they arrived to concluding that Jussie staged the hate crime. He took advantage of those two guys who are broke and desperate, therefore, the police chose not to charge the brothers who have cooperated fully. Jussie's motive was to advance his career, regarding his salary.  His career is done. What an asshole!  

Edited February 21, 2019 by Apprentice79

[mtlchick]

All this for a SALARY INCREASE?!

There are "better and easier" ways to ask for a pay raise.   Hell a sick out would have been a better idea. 

No one would want to work with him if he thought THIS was the best way to get a pay raise. 

[jsbt]

He was basically Lee Daniels' avatar on the show: The ideal gay soap opera hero. He'd become a minor queer icon. Did he really think he couldn't negotiate given Jamal's central role on the show?

[Enero]

1 hour ago, Tikichick said:

Clearly the brothers have some type of immunity deal in place with Chicago prosecutors, no idea about the federal situation.  Personally I think they're going to pay the piper big time on that part and somehow I would not be surprised to see JS wriggle out of that aspect for the most part.

4 minutes ago, Apprentice79 said:

The police is having a press conference about how they arrived to concluding that Jussie staged the hate crime. He took advantage of those two guys who are broke and desperate, therefore, the police chose not to charge the brothers who have cooperated fully. Jussie's motive was to advance his career, regarding his salary.  His career is done. What an asshole!  

I just assumed the brothers were released because did they really commit a crime if it was staged? I could see if witnesses saw the "attack" or even if it was caught on camera. But the way it looks, Jussie is the only one who committed a crime here by falsely reporting the incident happened. So again, not surprised the brothers were released.  

[thebigboot]

If Smollett is behind those letters he’s going to be in much more trouble.

[Margohill]

7 minutes ago, Apprentice79 said:

The police is having a press conference about how they arrived to concluding that Jussie staged the hate crime. He took advantage of those two guys who are broke and desperate, therefore, the police chose not to charge the brothers who have cooperated fully. Jussie's motive was to advance his career, regarding his salary.  His career is done. What an asshole!  

Dear God! This guy needs a serious mental evaluation. He wants a salary increase so he stages a fake assault which will have severe repercussions on real victims and affect his show negatively?

I can still picture Lee Daniels almost in tears reacting to the assault. All that emotion and sympathy for nothing. All GMA's time wasted!!! JS needs to be fired. I can't stand the guy now.

[RealReality10]

9 minutes ago, Dee said:

Opponents of the MeToo/TimesUp movement(s) have been arguing that it will disappear since the very beginning. And yet, if anything, the movement(s) have grown tremendously in strength & influence.

Victims & survivors are always gonna have a difficult time, regardless of stories such as these.

Hence why there is so little 'mainstream' support for justice for the astronomical number of trans WOC assaulted and/or murdered every year or prosecution for vile scum like Ed Buck.

There are always going to be a subset of people who will question a story of a hate crime or sexual assault.  Those minds are closed and there is no opening them.

The disservice JS did was with respect to the larger subset of people who have a relatively open mind or can be convinced.  

Making up a hate crime is terrible, but even worse to me was doing that Robin Roberts interview because he was so believable and so passionate.

This is the greater disservice because so many of these crimes rely on relatively normal people believing a victim.  And as a normal person, even though there were signs that JS made up his story, he was so believable during that Robin Roberts interview. 

So, even normal people may think that even if a victims sounds believable and passionate and honest, they can't take them at face value because someone like JS who sounded believable and passionate and had no real conceiveable reason to make up a story lied.

[thebigboot]

17 minutes ago, Dee said:

Hence why there is so little 'mainstream' support for justice for the astronomical number of trans WOC assaulted and/or murdered every year or prosecution for vile scum like Ed Buck.

Just like the Jews, in NYC alone 17 were physically assaulted in the past four months on camera. I think the problem is the people committing these acts aren’t white MAGA people. Look how fast the media ran with Smollett’s story after he said that.

[Dee]

None of this makes any sense. This entire debacle over a salary increase? It's not as if he works for Marvel.

[LegalParrot81]

$3,500 for this horrendous charade.  The chaos he created for what.....some tears, sympathy and a job.  He's ended his own career.

[Whatever88]

2 minutes ago, Dee said:

None of this makes any sense. This entire debacle over a salary increase? It's not as if he works for Marvel.

Same ! I'm not buying his motives at all.

I'm not sure how being assaulted would have led to a salary raise. Makes no fucking sense whatsoever !! Smh !!

[thebigboot]

7 minutes ago, Dee said:

None of this makes any sense. This entire debacle over a salary increase? It's not as if he works for Marvel.

2 minutes ago, Whatever88 said:

Same ! I'm not buying his motives at all.

I'm not sure how being assaulted would have led to a salary raise. Makes no fucking sense whatsoever !! Smh !!

Wanted the sympathy, just look at his concert. Sold out after the assault happened. Probably figured he’d make his rounds, get patted on the back for being brave and cruise into roles galore to make up for it.

At the same time, the motive makes about as much sense as his story about being attacked.

[mtlchick]

My only thought as to why he went this route: he felt undervalued in pay but not showing up to work or staging a sick out would make him look "unprofessional." If you're not reporting to work, production gets shut down for the day or you're scrambling to work around it.

So POSSIBLY writing the letter (which he hasn't been charged with yet) and planning an attack and calling it a hate crime would make him look sympathetic enough to the public and Fox would give him what he wanted. Except some felt something was up. I MOSTLY believed him at the time The one thing that didn't make sense was "This is MAGA country" because who would really say that?  (YMMV.)  It was his refusal of giving up his phone and then finding out things were heavily redacted is when I felt there was more to this story that he was telling. 

Now as more details come out, you realize that he did himself in AND can't even plan a decent crime.  (I had to laugh at he actually wrote A CHECK for payment.)  I love this show and loved it from the beginning. I still plan on watching it when it comes back but it will be a lot more uneasy seeing him on screen and thinking "you're the biggest dumb ass ever." And I hope he's made an example of. I wasn't a fan of Roseanne when she sent out that tweet and she was fired within hours. But this is much worse. And Fox can't drag their feet on this much longer.

[Dee]

20 minutes ago, Whatever88 said:

I'm not sure how being assaulted would have led to a salary raise.

Exactly.

He's a core character (essentially the third lead) so he's being paid well (for a Black actor on a hit show on a major mainstream network) and his tour has been selling well enough for an independent artist.

So none of this makes any sense.

[thebigboot]

6 minutes ago, Dee said:

Exactly.

He's a core character (essentially the third lead) so he's being paid well (for a Black actor on a hit show on a major mainstream network) and his tour has been selling well enough for an independent artist.

So none of this makes any sense.

“The misdemeanor complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2007 says that Smollett gave the name of his brother, Jake Smollett, when he was asked by an officer. He also signed a false name on the promise to appear in court. Smollett also was later charged with false impersonation, driving under the influence and driving without a valid license.”

I really don’t know why you keep saying none of this makes sense. Seems like this isn’t the first time he’s pulled something shady.

[Rickster]

Another question would be, if the Chicago PD had screwed up and dragged in two innocent suspects in the assault, would Smollett have gone as far as to finger them?

[Black Knight]

This is something I find I just can't grok. I've read the various theories for Smollett's motivations, and they make sense in that I understand the English words in these sentences, but I don't understand. What on earth??? I don't know if he'll ever come forward with an explanation of his own, but I doubt I will find it any more comprehensible than anything else that's been speculated.

Speaking as a member of the gay community, fuck Smollett. And that's one reason why he's going to be dumped from the show, because his support from the gay community will largely vanish. Not just vanish - turn into loathing. Without that fanbase, he has little to offer Fox or Empire TPTB that they don't get from the rest of the cast. I have no sympathy for him at this time. I can't imagine what he could say that would earn my forgiveness right now. In a few years after a journey of self-work and redemption, if I feel like he's truly learned something as opposed to just being sorry he got caught in his lies, maybe.

I read today that it's estimated that the costs of the police work that he'll likely have to reimburse will probably run into the hundreds of thousands. Add in his legal fees, etc. and whatever he has from Empire is going to be gone quickly. And he's not going to get any work for a while. WTF was he thinking?

[jsbt]

I have to assume he thought this incident would make him a cause celebre and enhance his public profile as a social activist and media personality, and put him on par with Howard and Taraji salary-wise. Events certainly trended that way early on with him giving a triumphant concert the following week, and poor Ellen Page's impassioned speech a week or so ago.

I wonder if he'll even be back to film an exit, tbh. This is an extreme and fairly unprecedented situation and the cast and crew must be beside themselves.

[Dee]

His support from the LGBT fanbase/community hasn't disappeared. It's wavered a lot, but it's more steady than many would think.

Sure, the white lgbt have essentially turned on him (which was to be expected), but they largely abandoned him long ago anyway.

The Black LGBT community has responded in a much more complex manner. The next few months should be fairly interesting in terms of developments in that regard.

[sempervivum]

10 minutes ago, Dee said:

Sure, the white lgbt have essentially turned on him (which was to be expected), but they largely abandoned him long ago anyway.

I don't know what this means. By abandon, do you mean 'stopped watching Empire'?

10 minutes ago, Dee said:

His support from the LGBT fanbase/community hasn't disappeared. It's wavered a lot, but it's more steady than many would think.

I wonder how long that will last now that his extremely base motive has been revealed.

[thebigboot]

12 minutes ago, Dee said:

His support from the LGBT fanbase/community hasn't disappeared. It's wavered a lot, but it's more steady than many would think.

Sure, the white lgbt have essentially turned on him (which was to be expected), but they largely abandoned him long ago anyway.

The Black LGBT community has responded in a much more complex manner. The next few months should be fairly interesting in terms of developments in that regard.

Which was to be expected? Seems like a bit of a racist statement.

Can you explain why Trevor Noah went after him then? He’s black. Why Kamala Harris and Corey Booker are back tracking like mad, now wanting to wait for the facts? They’re black. 

Got to give Jussie credit, he did an amazing job in dividing people even more! Your statement proves it! Jussie was attacked, Jussie is a victim, wait there’s no evidence of the attack, wait he’s changing the story, it’s ok! If you don’t believe him you’re racist. 

[BuyMoreAndSave]

1 hour ago, thebigboot said:

If Smollett is behind those letters he’s going to be in much more trouble.

He was. Isn't there some sort of federal crime involving fake mail?

Admittedly I've never watched Empire and never heard of this guy before this story. I thought his story was suspicious when I first heard it for several reasons. The weather conditions and time of day, the fact that he calmly walked away from the scene with the Subway sandwich and noose around his neck, the details of the crime seeming like a seventh-grader's idea of how racists would act. But since I watch true crime I know life can be stranger than fiction so I withheld judgment.

Certain people are way too gleeful that this happened though. They're blaming the media for causing political unrest by believing him at first which I think is pretty ridiculous. Also accusing the media of not covering it anymore once it started coming out that it was a hoax, which is completely untrue as it has been covered everywhere. And also using this one incident to say that all accusations of racism and racist violence are false.

BTW does anyone else think this guy looks like a sociopath? Even before it was confirmed to be a hoax, to me it seems like he has those empty sociopath eyes in every photo and video of him.

[mtlchick]

There's also a map of the events.  Not sure if it's a great idea to star "victim's residence."  

[SimoneS]

Whatever his motivation, it doesn't matter, all that that matters is the damage that his false hate crime allegation to people who are being violently attacked and victimized. 

Edited February 21, 2019 by SimoneS

[Dee]

Who expects to jump from making $65,000 to $100,000+ over night though?

By his own admission, he's excessively frugal, and if Fox has virtually lowballed the show's Academy Award nominated headliners, what would made him think they would cave & pay him equal/more?

That's why this makes no sense. If this was about job security his actions might make more sense (ina  twisted, but this is just insane.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Dee

[Apprentice79]

2 minutes ago, Dee said:

Who expects to jump from making $65,000 to $100,000+ over night though?

Was Jussie making $65,000 an episode? He was not satisfied with that type of money.  Does he know how long Taraji was in the game before she got to where she is right now.  I remember her saying that she was in a movie with A-listers where she got paid the least because of her status compared to the others, but, she took it because she knew that she was building her brand as an actress. Why couldn't he do that as well? This is all so disheartening..

[thebigboot]

10 minutes ago, Dee said:

Who expects to jump from making $65,000 to $100,000+ over night though?

By his own admission, he's excessively frugal, and if Fox has virtually lowballed the show's Academy Award nominated headliners, what would made him think they would cave & pay him equal/more?

That's why this makes no sense. If this was about job security his actions might make more sense (ina  twisted, but this is just insane.

Jussie Smollett lied to the police about his identity, giving and signing his brother’s name with the DUI arrest in 2007. That is a fact. Does that make any sense? 

[pennben]

I am guessing that the statement about his motive comes from what he told the brothers who he allegedly hired to stage the attack. While it may be true that is what he told them, that does not necessarily mean it is his true or entire motive here. 

[LegalParrot81]

40 minutes ago, BuyMoreAndSave said:

Isn't there some sort of federal crime involving fake mail?

Mail fraud is serious, with a federal prison term attached that isn't short.  Add to that the fact that, per reports, there was a white substance in the envelope, even though it ended up being aspirin makes it even more serious.

[RealReality10]

1 hour ago, jsbt said:

I have to assume he thought this incident would make him a cause celebre and enhance his public profile as a social activist and media personality, and put him on par with Howard and Taraji salary-wise. Events certainly trended that way early on with him giving a triumphant concert the following week, and poor Ellen Page's impassioned speech a week or so ago.

I wonder if he'll even be back to film an exit, tbh. This is an extreme and fairly unprecedented situation and the cast and crew must be beside themselves.

I think you have absolutely hit the nail on the head.  I think he has gone after trump before which is fine, but I think that he was maybe hoping to become a more important voice in the activist community.  And somehow maybe get into a public kerfuffle with the administration.  Which would further raise his profile.

57 minutes ago, Dee said:

His support from the LGBT fanbase/community hasn't disappeared. It's wavered a lot, but it's more steady than many would think.

Sure, the white lgbt have essentially turned on him (which was to be expected), but they largely abandoned him long ago anyway.

The Black LGBT community has responded in a much more complex manner. The next few months should be fairly interesting in terms of developments in that regard.

This would be a huge mistake.  As a community, we need to learn when to let certain people go and stop with the unquestioned and uncritical loyalty.  We should have cut OJ, and we need to likely cut r. Kelly, and this is probably another situation where we need to be a little more critical as a community.

[Margohill]

OMG! The news is on TV stations everywhere, on Facebook, Twitter. Empire must get rid of this guy. This is too bad. I'm ashamed of him. He's a disgrace. Every black person now who is attacked and victimized will be taken with a grain if salt. This is really bad. 

[Apprentice79]

15 minutes ago, RealReality10 said:

This would be a huge mistake.  As a community, we need to learn when to let certain people go and stop with the unquestioned and uncritical loyalty.  We should have cut OJ, and we need to likely cut r. Kelly, and this is probably another situation where we need to be a little more critical as a community.

I agree with you but, OJ was a very complex issue at the time for the Black Community as it was going on.. Police brutality was at a high and we were just dealt a blow when the all white Jury let go of the police officers who were on tape beating Rodney King like a runaway slave.  So for a lot of Black people, OJ was a Black man that the system could not railroad like so many Black men before him. 

[Stats Queen]

Removed my previous comment, didn’t add to the conversation 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Stats Queen
Couldn’t figure out how to delete

[jsbt]

Judging by online reaction just in the last 24-48 hours every public support system and online/media community is certainly cutting him off outside of his family and perhaps close friends, and AFAIC that's exactly what he deserves.

[Dee]

1 hour ago, pennben said:

I am guessing that the statement about his motive comes from what he told the brothers who he allegedly hired to stage the attack. While it may be true that is what he told them, that does not necessarily mean it is his true or entire motive here. 

I could understand if his tour was lagging or he was worried about being fired, but he's as secure as anyone on Empire and his tour has been performing decently relative to its scale. And over the years, he's amassed an enviable collection of high profile friends, fans & admirers from all walks of life.

To risk all that doesn't make sense.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Dee

[jsbt]

[thebigboot]

10 minutes ago, Dee said:

I could understand if his tour was lagging or he was , but he's as secure as anyone on Empire and his tour has been performing decently relative to its scale. And over the years, he's amassed an enviable collection of high profile friends, fans & admirers from all walks of life.

To risk all that doesn't make sense.

He. Lied. To. The. Police. In. 2007. For. His. DUI. Arrest.

He said he was his brother and signed his brothers name. How does that make any sense? He could have royally screwed his career then and did still did it anyways. He probably thought he got away with it once, he could do it again. 

TNT pulls Smollett’s episode of ‘Drop The Mic’

[pennben]

24 minutes ago, Dee said:

I could understand if his tour was lagging or he was , but he's as secure as anyone on Empire and his tour has been performing decently relative to its scale. And over the years, he's amassed an enviable collection of high profile friends, fans & admirers from all walks of life.

To risk all that doesn't make sense.

What I am saying is that I don’t think financial reasons were his sole motive.  Assuming all this is true, I think he has a “martyr” complex and foresaw an increase to his activist status, hero status, whatever. Again, pure speculation at this point. 

[sempervivum]

9 minutes ago, thebigboot said:

He. Lied. To. The. Police. In. 2007. For. His. DUI. Arrest.

He said he was his brother and signed his brothers name. How does that make any sense? He could have royally screwed his career then and did still did it anyways. He probably thought he got away with it once, he could do it again. 

There's a big difference between a simple/stupid lie at a time when his career was dead in the water (also, he was drunk), and an elaborate scheme perpetrated while he's a comparatively successful celebrity, imo. 

Off topic, but I just discovered his real name is Justin, I assumed 'Jussie' was a family name of some sort. 

[Tikichick]

3 hours ago, Enero said:

I just assumed the brothers were released because did they really commit a crime if it was staged? I could see if witnesses saw the "attack" or even if it was caught on camera. But the way it looks, Jussie is the only one who committed a crime here by falsely reporting the incident happened. So again, not surprised the brothers were released.  

The brothers were part of a conspiracy to deceive the authorities and the public.  They participated in the charade and knowingly allowed a false report to be made to the authorities without addressing it immediately.

What happens with the letter portion of this mess may prove very interesting in regards to the brothers based upon evidence that was reportedly seized from their residence which may have well been used to create that letter. 

Considering the initial information about being on the phone with his manager at the time of the attack and the fact the police no doubt would have interviewed his manager in the investigation, the manager is quite likely to have stepped into some hot water depending on the accuracy of information provided to the police. 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Tikichick

[thebigboot]

3 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

There's a big difference between a simple/stupid lie at a time when his career was dead in the water (also, he was drunk), and an elaborate scheme perpetrated while he's a comparatively successful celebrity, imo. 

Off topic, but I just discovered his real name is Justin, I assumed 'Jussie' was a family name of some sort. 

To me there’s really no difference. Dee keeps saying it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense. Did it make sense to lie to the police he first time? No. Why would it make sense now? It still doesn’t. 

[BuyMoreAndSave]

1 hour ago, Apprentice79 said:

Was Jussie making $65,000 an episode? He was not satisfied with that type of money.  Does he know how long Taraji was in the game before she got to where she is right now.  I remember her saying that she was in a movie with A-listers where she got paid the least because of her status compared to the others, but, she took it because she knew that she was building her brand as an actress. Why couldn't he do that as well? This is all so disheartening..

Oh wow, how could he possibly survive on such a pittance? /s What a stupid and pointless reason to act so selfishly and make things harder for people who actually were the victim of hate crimes.

25 minutes ago, pennben said:

What I am saying is that I don’t think financial reasons were his sole motive.  Assuming all this is true, I think he has a “martyr” complex and foresaw an increase to his activist status, hero status, whatever. Again, pure speculation at this point. 

I agree. Unfortunately in 2019 being a victim sells. He wasn't even the first person to fake a hate crime that got media attention. I saw a post somewhere that mentioned a few other cases too (not celebrities).

Edited February 21, 2019 by BuyMoreAndSave

[Dee]

Jussie Smollett isn’t the reason black LGBT hate-crime victims aren’t believed

Quote

Even before “Empire” star Jussie Smollett was criminally charged for allegedly making a false report that he was the victim of a violent hate crime, the hand-wringing over the damage to the credibility of hate-crime victims had already begun: Observers worried that the case could “cause irreparable damage to the communities most affected,” make it “even harder” for genuine victims to speak up and embolden “those who are inclined to dismiss prejudice in America as a manufactured crisis.” But anyone who’s looking to dismiss prejudice or play down the targeting of black people in the LGBT community doesn’t need Smollett.

To be clear: If his story is proved to be a hoax, there’s no justification. I’m black and gay, and I was saddened when I heard the initial reports that Smollett said he was attacked. But if he made it all up, I wouldn’t defend him for it. Black LGBT hate-crime victims, though, have always struggled to be believed. To suggest that their credibility turns on whether his story is fabricated is its own kind of hoax.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, of course. The point isn’t that we should start believing people less if they’re not black or LGBT. I don’t know what happened to Smollett and don’t excuse any lies he may have told. If he lied, he should be prosecuted. But part of the insidiousness of racism in our society is that, too often, black and LGBT people aren’t believed in instances where others are, and then, somehow, the hard-to-believe story of one gay black person is used as an explanation of why that dichotomy persists. Pointing to Smollett as the reason hate-crime victims, particularly LGBT African Americans, will now be “harder to hear” distracts us from the reality: Not enough of us try to hear them in the first place.

[thebigboot]

Bail set at $100,000 and must surrender passport

[BuyMoreAndSave]

52 minutes ago, Dee said:

Jussie Smollett isn’t the reason black LGBT hate-crime victims aren’t believed

He's not the only reason and there are many other prejudices at play, but even the police spokesperson on the news said that this could lead to future victims being doubted, publicly shamed, and being afraid to come forward. The police generally don't like to talk about that kind of stuff because it makes them look bad, so if even they admit it, there must be some truth to it.

1 minute ago, thebigboot said:

Bail set at $100,000 and must surrender passport

Wow. They are not playing around. And they shouldn't. This guy did his part to escalate the already terrible social problems in the US for a completely self-centered reason.

[iwasish]

3 hours ago, jsbt said:

I have to assume he thought this incident would make him a cause celebre and enhance his public profile as a social activist and media personality, and put him on par with Howard and Taraji salary-wise. Events certainly trended that way early on with him giving a triumphant concert the following week, and poor Ellen Page's impassioned speech a week or so ago.

I wonder if he'll even be back to film an exit, tbh. This is an extreme and fairly unprecedented situation and the cast and crew must be beside themselves.

Hire his brother, the one he tried to pass himself off as for the dui, and bring him in to replace him. Either as a long list brother or the same character after having a “terrible, disfiguring accident”. 

I do feel bad for  his family, they are in the business and will be tainted. They supported him early on  but have been kind of quiet in the last week.

[iwasish]

5 hours ago, Enero said:

I just assumed the brothers were released because did they really commit a crime if it was staged? I could see if witnesses saw the "attack" or even if it was caught on camera. But the way it looks, Jussie is the only one who committed a crime here by falsely reporting the incident happened. So again, not surprised the brothers were released.  

The police said the wounds were self inflicted. So if they didn’t hurt him, all they were there for was to act out the name calling, wear the hoodies,  put the noose on him and pour the bleach. I D wonder if he knew that camera was facing the “wrong” way or if he staged it so that it wouldn’t be caught on film. I think Identified the attacker’s as white so that if by  chance the two were picked up on any cameras in the area or by witnesses in the are, the fact that they are clearly black would clear them as suspects.

[sempervivum]

According to the current Daily Mail article, JS was making $100K per episode, not the $65K that was quoted on this thread. 

Also, he had to surrender his passport, meaning the police think he's a flight risk- to where, Nigeria?