Not Kidding: Jussie Smollett Is Nominated for an Award
Jussie Smollett just had a panoply of charges against him for allegedly arranging to have himself assailed on the streets of Chicago — purportedly because he was unhappy with his contract and almost assuredly because he wanted to make a political point against conservatives — dropped by a Chicago prosecutor for seemingly no reason at all.
Smollett forfeited his $10,000 bond and will do “volunteer service in the community.” That “volunteer service” is now an additional source of controversy, according to The New York Times, because it seems to be laughably desultory work with Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/Push coalition.
In short, Smollett was one of the few individuals who could reasonably lay claim to having a better week than President Trump, and his jubilation in the matter was quite unearned. Even the president seemed to realize this, tweeting that he was going to have the FBI and Department of Justice look into the case.
FBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2019
Given that the FBI spent resources investigating the original attack on Smollett, this attention isn’t exactly unwarranted, and there remains a whole universe of questions as to why the charges were dropped. (Oh, and the Chicago Police would like their money back, too.) But for now, things are pretty copacetic for the “Empire” actor. And they could get even better, considering he’s up for an NAACP Image Award this Saturday and the host is actually pulling for him to win.
Smollett is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the fourth consecutive year, according to USA Today. It’s worth noting that the nominations were announced on Feb. 13 — before Smollett was charged, but well after it was clear we were all probably watching the first act of “Tawana Brawley 2: Electric Boogaloo.”
In fact, Feb. 13 was the same day that the police raided the home of “two persons of interest,” who we later discovered were the two brothers who alleged that Smollett arranged for them to carry out the attack.
Even before the raid, however, it was clear that Smollett’s story wasn’t quite withstanding scrutiny. Given that fact, maybe the folks behind the NAACP Image Awards could have decided that this might be the one year to leave the actor off the roster of nominees.
But no. Now that the story is under even more scrutiny and the Cook County prosecutor who let him off is under scrutiny, as well, you even have the host of the show coming out as a Smollett partisan.
“I hope he wins,” host Anthony Anderson, star of “Black-ish,” said.
“I’m happy for him that the system worked for him in his favor because the system isn’t always fair, especially for people of color. So I’m glad it worked out for him.”
Apparently, the support of those involved with the NAACP Image Awards is inversely proportional to however bad Smollett looks at any given moment. It’s unknown whether or not the actor will show up at the awards. Smollett representative Pamela Sharp said she did “not have that information as of now,” which is interesting seeing that she’s his representative and all — but if he took the stage and did his own rendition of Dave Matthews Band’s “I Did It,” you get the feeling they’d plonk a lifetime achievement award in his hands on the spot.
As for Anderson’s remarks, yes the system worked in his favor, although it’s difficult to call the outcome fair. Smollett’s restitution so far consists of his $10,000 bond; Chicago Police say that $130,106.15 is the amount it would take to cover the cost of the investigation on their side alone. He was facing a few years behind bars and got off with what seems to amount to minor volunteer service with a leftist political organization.
Furthermore, without addressing the iniquities and inequalities in our justice system, Smollett’s crime was designed specifically to foment contempt against an entire group of people: conservatives generally and Trump supporters specifically. There are two elements that everyone remembers about the alleged attack — the rope around Smollett’s neck and the phrase “This is MAGA country.” What you were supposed to take away wasn’t subtext so much as text.
Then again, Smollett isn’t actually the most poxed NAACP Image Awards nominee ever. Tupac Shakur was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture back in 1994 even though he had been charged with sexual assault and aggravated battery in two unrelated cases. R. Kelly, meanwhile, was nominated for an award in 2004 even though he was under indictment for child pornography. It makes allegedly suborning an attack on yourself to get a raise and impugn your political enemies seem almost quaint.
And then, there’s perhaps another reason Anderson hopes Smollett will triumph: It’ll certainly make for an interesting night.
“It’s not my place or any other person’s place to judge him or what not, but I’m glad the he’s nominated,” he said, adding, “I hope he wins because I’d be interested to hear his speech.”
It’d be the perfect time to break out that rendition of “I Did It,” that’s for sure.
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