By Dan Murphy
Like most of Americans, I was watching out of the corner of my eye during the Chicago trial of actor Jussie Smollett. When he was found guilty, the thing that annoyed me the most was that Smollett took the stand and continued the lie, claiming that he was attacked by two white men and trump supporters.
And for me, lying to the police at first is one thing; but lying on the stand, under oath, and before a jury is another. I wanted to see Jussie go to jail because he continued to perpetuate the lie.
But then during my daily listen to the Michael Smerconish show on Sirius-XM radio, i listened to an interview with LZ Granderson, columnist for the LA Times, who penned an Op-Ed titled “Jussie Smollett is already disgraced. Does he really need to be imprisoned?”
Granderson’s word in the Op-Ed, and comments to Smerconish, changed my view and brought me back to reality. Smollet is already ‘damaged goods.’ with his future acting career now in jeapordy, or as Granderson writes, “he’s a punchline… He’s lost his hit show and career. He’ll be mocked for this chapter, most likely for the rest of his life. It is a prison of a different sort. “
Granderson also reminded me of the unequal bias that a white person with a similar criminal situation gets from law enforcement, and the media. He told Smerconish about a white woman who had lied about an attack from a black man in which she was stabbed several times. The event never happened and the woman served no time.
“There was a domestic terrorist attack at the Capitol that left more Americans dead than the attack in Benghazi, Libya, and so far the longest sentence handed down has been 41 months for attacking a police officer. Smollett could get 36 months for lying to one. Doesn’t seem like apples to apples to me.
The court should force Smollett to pay his debt to society… with cash and shame. Maybe Smollett can rebuild his career. Maybe he won’t. Either way he’ll always remember it took him seven auditions to land the role on “Empire” and just one night to throw his career out the window. That feels like punishment enough,” writes Granderson.
I agree. At first I wanted Smollet to go to prison as punishment for lying and for having the taxpayers of Illinois foot the bill for his trial. Now I don’t want the taxpayers to have to pay for Smollet to spend time in prison. And as Granderson pointed out, we have enough people in jail already.
And the public scorn is enough. If you don’t believe us, check out Dave Chappelle’s comedic rant about this on YouTube.
The link to Granderson’s Op Ed is https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-12-11/jussie-smollett-is-already-disgraced-does-he-need-to-be-imprisoned
