Jussie … Jussie … Jussie … from the moment I heard his story, it didn’t pass my sniff test. And when I posted that on social media, I became fodder for attack. “The man is famous. He’s gay. Of course he should be able to go out at 2 in the morning to get a sandwich. You are So disgusting,” is an example of the comments I received. 

Those folks who love to see and hear “black people as victims” stories jumped on this one like white on rice. Why even Congressman Bobby Rush got involved by writing a letter to the FBI demanding an investigation into the “hate” crime. 

Other elected officials and well-known celebrities all chimed in. Their fingers were all pointed at Donald Trump and his supporters. And the alleged mentioning of MAGA was all that was needed to validate a story that didn’t make sense. 

Even more interesting was an interview I saw posted by Roland Martin. Although numerous people had privately emailed him and told him he should wait because the story wasn’t making sense, he trudged on regardless. In the video, when the black Republican communication consultant, Melik Abdul cautioned that the story was discombobulated and it should be approached with caution, he was thoroughly castigated by Dr. Julianne Malveaux and Dr. Cleo Manago. Both, as representatives of black activism, were adamant that Jussie was a friend of the community and that no one should dare to imply that the story was anything other than the God’s honest truth!

Jussie’s alleged attack happened early in the morning on Jan. 29. One day later, everyone who had heard the story had begun to form sides. I will say one thing: I am very impressed with the number of people who jumped on the “I don’t believe it” side. Personally, I had several issues that concerned me. One was the fact that if two people jumped him, what caused them to stop? Also, there was never any definitive explanation as to how exactly the rope/noose got around his neck? Also, why did they leave him with the cellphone? And lastly, why didn’t he call the police from the spot where he was jumped as opposed to walking back to his apartment and then calling 911 a half-hour or so later?

Jussie is a celebrity and Empire filming here brings money. So of course CPD is going to do an excellent job of looking into the alleged attack. The end result is that, as I write this column, Jessie is accused of having hired two Nigerians brothers and paying them money to create a phony attack. 

As this entire debacle unravels, there should be no forgiveness if this is proved to be a false report. Chicago has too many heinous crimes occurring to allow resources to be used on false claims. This would be an excellent opportunity for CPD to get the community to help them solve “real” crimes that won’t waste their time!