Hate Crime: "Empire" actor attacked by masked men shouting 'MAGA country'

[Albion]

While I agree that there have been slanderous false reports of attacks. There doesn't seem to be any evidence or motive to suggest that this is the case. At least, that I know of.

Read the following:
Chicago Police Deny Claim That Jussie Smollett Identified Attackers as White, Can't Get Their Story Straight About Whether He Heard Them Say 'MAGA'

 

[essentialsaltes]

Read the following:
Chicago Police Deny Claim That Jussie Smollett Identified Attackers as White, Can't Get Their Story Straight About Whether He Heard Them Say 'MAGA'

In what sense does this make the attack a 'false report'?

 

[Shiloh Raven]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and advise us all to be carefully mindful of what happened the last time MAGA was mentioned in news reports. It involved MAGA hats and white teenage boys. I think we should wait for the whole story to unfold properly before we judge what allegedly happened.

 

[SummerMadness]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and advise us all to be carefully mindful of what happened the last time MAGA was mentioned in news reports. It involved MAGA hats and white teenage boys. I think we should wait for the whole story to unfold properly before we judge what allegedly happened.

The investigation needs to proceed and we need to find out what happened. Worst case scenario is there are men going around targeting racial minorities and homosexuals simply for existing, the best case (although not to the victim), this is an attack focused on the individual due to personal antipathy.

 

[SummerMadness]

Read the following:
Chicago Police Deny Claim That Jussie Smollett Identified Attackers as White, Can't Get Their Story Straight About Whether He Heard Them Say 'MAGA'

Your article is old, it's dated: 2019 January 29, 15:05

Chicago police: No video evidence found yet of reported Smollett attack
Date: 2019 January 29, ~20:00

A Chicago police spokesperson tells CNN that investigators canvassed the neighborhood where the reported attack occurred on actor Jussie Smollett and have found no still images or video from security cameras of the incident.

A dozen police detectives with the assistance of the FBI are working the case on Tuesday, according to police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi.

The only image of Smollett police obtained from security cameras was inside Subway Sandwich shop near the location of the reported crime, the actor was standing alone.

Chicago police say Jussie Smollett did not mention the alleged attackers shouting, “This is MAGA country” during the initial police interview. Investigators heard the claim in media reports and called the actor. He later relayed it to detectives in a supplemental interview.

Police say they are testing the chemical Smollett claimed to have been doused with and have yet to confirm the nature of the substance.

 

[Albion]

Well, it's less than 24 hours "old."

 

[SummerMadness]

Well, it's less than 24 hours "old."

I gave you times for both articles, the information you post was outdated.

 

[rambot]

Read the following:
Chicago Police Deny Claim That Jussie Smollett Identified Attackers as White, Can't Get Their Story Straight About Whether He Heard Them Say 'MAGA'

"According to the victim, the offenders' faces were concealed," a police spokesperson told Reason. "We have no record indicating that [they shouted 'MAGA'], we only have record of them shouting racial and homophobic slurs at him."

If it's not OR is MAGA, THEN it is important.

Only racial and homophobic slurs? Come on everyone.

This is CF. Certianly by now it's been pretty clear that racial and homophobic slurs aren't really all that big a deal.

 

[Hieronymus]

[Staff edit].

Police: No footage yet of alleged attack on 'Empire' actor

 

[(° ͡ ͜ ͡ʖ ͡ °) (ᵔᴥᵔʋ)]

Read the following:
Chicago Police Deny Claim That Jussie Smollett Identified Attackers as White, Can't Get Their Story Straight About Whether He Heard Them Say 'MAGA'

You mean to tell me this is like a "It was a black guy in a hoodie" scenario?

 

[Ana the Ist]

[Staff edit].

It's a weird story. It's not that it couldn't have happened...it's in the realm of possibility...

It's just odd. He got attacked while getting on or off the subway? That makes it hard to imagine that it was premeditated...unless they knew his schedule, or he's posting his location on social media.

If it's not premeditated....then we're supposed to believe that two ski mask wearing assailants happened to recognize an actor on Empire, were wearing MAGA hats, happened to have rope and bleach (just read that's what the "chemical" supposedly was) on them....and made it clear they were both racist and homophobic Trump supporters during the attack lol.

If it's not premeditated....it's either an outright lie and he got mugged or something and fabricated the rest....or he set this up so that he can get himself some time in the spotlight/further his activist agenda/etc.

Like I said, it's possible that some people are deliberately targeting him and it's a very strange story.....but I don't think it's wrong for people to be suspicious about this one. Who is roving Chicago at night with rope, bleach, and ski masks?

 

[rambot]

It's a weird story. It's not that it couldn't have happened...it's in the realm of possibility...

It's just odd. He got attacked while getting on or off the subway? That makes it hard to imagine that it was premeditated...unless they knew his schedule, or he's posting his location on social media.

If it's not premeditated....then we're supposed to believe that two ski mask wearing assailants happened to recognize an actor on Empire, were wearing MAGA hats, happened to have rope and bleach (just read that's what the "chemical" supposedly was) on them....and made it clear they were both racist and homophobic Trump supporters during the attack lol.

If it's not premeditated....it's either an outright lie and he got mugged or something and fabricated the rest....or he set this up so that he can get himself some time in the spotlight/further his activist agenda/etc.

Like I said, it's possible that some people are deliberately targeting him and it's a very strange story.....but I don't think it's wrong for people to be suspicious about this one. Who is roving Chicago at night with rope, bleach, and ski masks?

People who want to hurt others, I guess?
I dunno. I see some crazy things done by "Florida Man" ALL the time.
I mean he was certainly hurt. He ended up in the hospital for a couple days.
ps...I'm confused. I just read a news report that he was going to a subway restaurant....not on/off a subway.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

Police: No footage yet of alleged attack on 'Empire' actor

That's what I read. They are not finding any video evidence to back up this claim.

Besides, it was extremely cold in Chicago in the midst of the polar vortex. Not a lot of people hanging out waiting for victims. But we shall see.

 

[rambot]

Police: No footage yet of alleged attack on 'Empire' actor

So?

However, there are gaps

 

[Hieronymus]

So?

So there's no evidence.

 

[Ana the Ist]

People who want to hurt others, I guess?
I dunno. I see some crazy things done by "Florida Man" ALL the time.
I mean he was certainly hurt. He ended up in the hospital for a couple days.
ps...I'm confused. I just read a news report that he was going to a subway restaurant....not on/off a subway.

Oh ok...I read subway and thought subway, not Subway.

Again, I'm not saying it's impossible...I would just hold your breath on this one for a moment. As I first posted, there's a lot of surveillance cameras in Chicago.

So the police will either be able to see suspects walking to his location from somewhere....or they won't, and we'll find out some other version of the story.

 

[Ana the Ist]

So there's no evidence.

He had broken ribs. I'm sure that something happened.

 

[USincognito]

Was the attack brought on because he was black or gay?

Why not both? Bigots aren't limited to one strain of hate.

 

[USincognito]

Police: No footage yet of alleged attack on 'Empire' actor

Jussie Smollett Investigators Have Persons of Interest in Attack

 

[rambot]

Oh ok...I read subway and thought subway, not Subway.

Again, I'm not saying it's impossible...I would just hold your breath on this one for a moment. As I first posted, there's a lot of surveillance cameras in Chicago.

So the police will either be able to see suspects walking to his location from somewhere....or they won't, and we'll find out some other version of the story.

Yeah...don't feel bad. I don't think you are the only one who thought that at all. The survellance cameras have all been watched and there are gaps in it.
But now....since it's not on the subway, let's revisit the premeditation possibility:

1) Is this subway on/near his house/an area he frequents? If the same group of people targetted him once before, well that doesn't bode well for this being isolated.
2) No reason to think that the individuals (assuming premeditation) would be able get an idea of where the security cameras are or are not in a given area.

As far as I'm concerned, dude ended up in the hospital and so, while specifics may be unclear, at THIS point, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. That's not to say I think it's impossible this was a hoax, but I'm willing to side with the victim on this one.