Conflicted Over Jussie Smollett…

By Joyce Davis

When it comes to Jussie Smollett, I am completely conflicted. I used to be a big fan of his. I liked that he was a struggling actor and Empire gave him a chance as a gay man on a Black show. It was a big deal to me and I watched a show that was not in my genre just to support what they did.

The day he said that he was attacked I was 100% behind him. Truth be told, what he had to say fed into my bias of the Maga crowd. I felt like Trump supporters were racists and just a matter of time before they went on the attack. I was in. Keyboard warrior ready to attack anyone saying anything negative about him.

Then the evidence began to come out and I felt like a fool. I was angry because so many gay, Black men fight to end hate crimes. This one incident took that fight backwards. Now they use this incident to say “see how he tried to make it seem like we were racist, and homophobic, when really, he faked the whole thing. We are not racist. He lied.”

Now every time I see him going to court or talking on tv I want to say STFU. You got caught and instead of showing any remorse he doubles down. The fist in the air picture upset me. It should not have bothered me. I should be able to ignore it and go on about my business but instead I had to speak out.

Freedom of speech covers a multitude of actions. He is allowed to say what he likes for the sake of his defense. I hate that he is trying to be a hero for something that is false.
My conflict is that I like him. I hate that he ruined his career on a lie and tore a city apart that was already struggling. I feel like a hypocrite because I want to call him out every time I see someone post about him on twitter, but I don’t want to “tear down a Black man”.

I do wish him well and hope he takes some time away from cameras so he will no longer cause people to choose sides. It is not a Black and White thing. It is a ‘he lied thing’ and he is using race to make people feel they have to support him. Sorry dude I do not and will not support your lie.