News of the assault on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett swept through social media as a viral storm. According to Smollett, he was assaulted by two men after he left a local Subway restaurant in Chicago. The men wore ski masks and according to Smollett said, “Aren’t you that f—t ‘Empire’ n—–?” and yelled “This is MAGA country” and began beating him while continuing their vile tirade. The assailants then poured bleach on him and tied a noose around his neck before leaving the scene. But now some on social media are doubting his story as police have come up short on video evidence of the assault.
One of the first famous people to possibly throw shade was singer Erykah Badu.
https://twitter.com/AesopsFableFly/status/1090324360982876161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1090324360982876161&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hotnewhiphop.com%2Ferykah-badu-questions-recent-outrage-twitter-jumps-to-messy-conclusions-news.70641.html
This prompted a backlash from Twitter users who accused Badu of being reckless with her comments. She later posted the following:
I don’t know all the black twitter rules.
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) January 29, 2019
But other social media users have been perplexed at how the attackers recognized Smollett. One Facebook user wrote, “Wait they yelled, Aren’t you that f—t ‘Empire’ n—–. Are Trump racists really watching ‘Empire’ and know the background of characters?”
Chicago Police Department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi released a statement that reads in part: “As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, detectives canvassed and reviewed hundreds of hours of video and have now expanded the search area along the Chicago riverfront hoping to find a video to be able to release a public description of the offenders. Unfortunately, thus far we have not found any helpful information on a suspect or a suspect’s vehicle to be able to share.”
Because of the lack of video footage, some are doubting Smollett’s word, who would have no reason to injure himself and make up a story that could end his career. Still, because of the racist nature of the attack, some are calling the incident “fake news.”
Here are a few Twitter responses:
https://twitter.com/MarycYee3/status/1090677950238941184
https://twitter.com/Zero___Hour/status/1090675454133104641
https://twitter.com/RealityTuner/status/1090671830199881728
https://twitter.com/PlayoffKap/status/1090670660588879872
