Note to self: Please file this with the Department of Redundancy Department.
Because those scholars of repetition are probably the only folks around who’ll find anything to appreciate about disgraced actor Jussie Smollett’s latest round of, “No, really, I’M the victim.”
Over a year after being convicted of faking a hate crime against himself, and over four years since the hoax itself, the actor who cried wolf is disputing said conviction.
According to court documents obtained by the New York Post, the 40-year-old actor has filed a whopping 102-page appeal claiming “prosecutorial misconduct,” amid other outlandish claims.
Smollett was sentenced to five months in prison back in March 2022, just a few months after a jury found Smollett guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct in December 2021. On top of the jail time, Smollett was also ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution as well as a $25,000 fine.
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Here’s the kicker: Smollett ultimately served a mere six days in prison.
Later, he even announced a new TV movie following his tenure on the hit television show “Empire,” which ended with a whimper.
Given all of that, it sure sounds like Smollett got off relatively easily with nary a tangible blemish to his reputation.
And yet, narcissists are going to narcissist.
Should these convictions be overturned?
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According to the Post, Smollett’s legal team claimed that the actor’s protection against double jeopardy had been violated (a familiar refrain from Team Smollett), among other claims of wrongdoing.
Smollett’s attorneys claimed that there were “allegations that a defense witness was pressured to change his statement,” which they termed a clear case of “prosecutorial misconduct.”
The attorneys also slammed the trial judge for making “biased” decisions, and then claimed that the closing remarks “took on a personal retributive tone” against Smollett.
Due to all of the aforementioned issues, Smollett and his legal team are ultimately seeking a new trial.
It remains to be seen whether Smollett and his team will be granted that new trial, but given the facts that have since been presented about the staged hate crime, it hardly feels necessary.
The facts: In Jan. 2019, Smollett claimed that two men assaulted him and called him slurs. That assault purportedly included some sort of chemical substance and a noose. Apparently, this heinous assault occurred while the assailants were making claims about “MAGA.”
And to be clear, had this assault been real, it should’ve and would’ve been condemned to the highest degree. It goes without saying, but hate crimes have no place in this country.
But this particular “hate crime” wasn’t a hate crime.
In fact, it wasn’t even real — at least according to the Nigerian brothers who claimed that Smollett had paid and trained them to commit the crime.
This is all to say: The entire world has already borne witness to Smollett’s story of racial animus run amok collapsing on itself.
Apparently, Smollett and his legal team want to relive that.
