Not quite true.  It was the most conservative part of town.  Close to 50/50 in those voting precincts.

Oh. Ok then. That clears that up.

Jussie Smollett’s Alleged Attackers’ Homophobic Statements Surface, May Be Used In Defense https://t.co/UZbyxy1rsb

Rafer Weigel  (@RaferWeigel) February 26, 2019

Here are the homophobic tweets by Ola Osundairo that have since been deleted. Talking to a #Smollett rep, the defense is going to go hard at the 2 brothers cred b/c their story “doesn’t add up”. pic.twitter.com/jVTi7hqkee

Rafer Weigel  (@RaferWeigel) February 26, 2019

So calling someone gay is now homophobic ?

LOL

This keeps getting better!

No. Fuck him.

No apology to half of America that he and his friends blamed, when they thought this farce was true, for racism and bigotry. He can go duck himself with a rusty spoon.

Good grief.   Someone expects comments about homos to supercede all the other evidence the cops may have?

Satire follows:

Bro 1 or 2: Yo home boy, that juicy guy is a gay homo.   Yo that sucks.

Juicy:  Awesome, someone tweeted about me now I can do anything and claim homophobia as an excuse.

Doesn't sound homophobic.

They are grasping.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

How is that last tweet homophobic?

Guess being straight is homophobic now.  I mean, maybe the first two, but even then it’s a stretch.  People are insane.

Attached File

Jussie Smollet quote of the day

“If I wanted to see two Africans hunting for a queen in a big city I’d watch Coming to America”.

Building that defense.

Men who worked with brothers from Smollett case say they were homophobic

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Two men who worked on the set of the FOX television show “Empire” say the brothers connected to the Jussie Smollett case were homophobic.

Both men say they heard one of the Osundairo brothers use anti-gay rhetoric, and one of the men believes Smollett is telling the truth.

Two witnesses told FOX 32 they heard Abel Osundairo use homophobic slurs on the set of Empire back in 2015. Ticarus Bunch, who played a prison guard on the show, recalled the incident.

"We were talking about friends and it was like, 'could you have a homosexual friend even though you were heterosexual,'" Bunch recounted. "And he was just like ‘hell naw,' he not gonna be friends with no fa**ot. And it jarred everybody like whoa, like that's very, very, very offensive. It was obvious that this guy just, he's very homophobic. He just do not like gays.”

Lawrence Johnson Jr. said the Osundairo brothers actually got into a confrontation with another extra who was openly gay because of his sexuality.

"There was an openly gay guy named Alex. Didn't try to hide it. Really flamboyant,” Johnson said. "These guys didn't like it. They started picking with him. Moving his bag back and forth that he had on set with him.”

Johnson also said that he heard Abel say something similar when the gay actor walked away.

"Just heard the taller brother say, ‘I wouldn't hang around gays.’ I don't know if I can use a derogatory word, but the ‘F’ word. ‘I don't want anybody like that around me. I can't deal with that,’” Johnson claims Abel said. "It was just like one of those things like 'wow, why would you say that?'"

"That's when he was like ‘yeah, I’m not gonna be friends with no fa**ots, naw, hell (expletive) naw,’ and it was real disturbing,” Bunch added.

While both say the other brother, Ola Osundairo, was quiet during the confrontation, FOX 32 obtained deleted tweets from Ola's Twitter account making derogatory comments about gays. Bunch described Smollett as "a cool guy" and thinks he used poor judgement hiring the brothers to train him, which is what Smollett’s defense team is also saying.

When asked whether he thought the Osundairo brothers attacked Smollet because they're homophobic, Bunch said, "without a shadow of a doubt.”

"I definitely think that they baited him the same way the brother baited Alex on set. I think it's a continued behavior. Because it stood out that that guy was cocky and not a real good guy."

The Osundairo brothers are not accused of committing a crime.

The attorney for the brothers, Gloria Schmidt, released the following statement in regards to the allegations that the brothers were homophobic: "My clients have tremendous regret over their involvement in this situation, and they understand how it has impacted people across the nation, particularly minority communities and especially those who have been victims of hate crimes themselves."

The state's attorney also did not respond to a request for comment.

Chicago Police say they maintain their position that Smollett asked the brothers to stage the attack. WFLD

Are they checking to see if Jussie wrote anymore checks?

They're going to say it was a one time thing for his video shoot.
I still dont believe the guy

That's my guess as well. I don't believe him either.

It was the fee for "personal training". Jussie may come out of this smelling like a rose if the jury buys it.

Yeah training for his video shoot.
Damage is done

His face looks like a rubber mask.

So, the entire set knew these dudes were homophobes in 2015, but Jussie's palling around with them in 2019, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKAY.

.
working someplace for 4 years with the folks one might not initially appreciate can change perceptions

Media has all but dropped this now.   Nothing will come of it as far as you will never know!

What do you expect them to report on now that he has been arraigned? It's not like they are going to put him on trial next week.

The dumb motherfucker is already on record saying it was WHITE men who assaulted him. These two dudes could be the most homophobic people on Earth and it wouldn’t change the fact that Smellyette CLEARLY conspired to deceive the public about the entire affair.

Also, if being black and homophobic automatically makes you suspect in such a case, the Chicago PD had better start recommending indictments for every rapper that has ever recorded bars, with the possible exception of Frank Ocean.

Attached File

Wait, so gays really do recruit instead of being born?

Have you seen Robin Roberts' "explanation" of her interview with him?

here it is. . .

She was a victim too!:

"I'm a black gay woman, he's a black gay man," she said. "He's saying that there's a hate crime, so if I'm too hard, then my LGBT community is going to say, 'You don't believe a brother,' if I'm too light on him, it's like, 'Oh, because you are in the community, you're giving him a pass.'"
"It was a no-win situation for me," she explained.

.
acquaintance can change perceptions
one might see somebody with whom they have interacted as an individual person instead of a stereotype with a label

So what you're saying then, Robin,  is that you really don't have what it takes to be a true journalist.

.
kinda funny how people don't want to admit their biases until they get caught out
many would have doubled down, she didn't (in this case)
hope she learned something
but I doubt it sticks

Exclusive: Grand jury returns 16 felony counts against Jussie Smollett

Embattled TV star Jussie Smollett's legal problems have just become significantly more serious as a Cook County grand jury has returned a 16-count true bill of charges against him in connection with his alleged falsification of a hate crime in Streeterville in late January.

Smollet was charged with a single count of felony disorderly conduct-false report last month based on allegations brought by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

But, CWBChicago has learned that a grand jury has now returned a total of 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct-false report against the former star of Empire on Fox.

The grand jury's true bill states that Smollett lied about the attack to two separate police officers--the beat cop who took his initial report and a detective who conducted a follow-up interview the same day.

In one set of charges, the grand jury found that Smollet filed a false police report around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29th in which he told an officer that he was attacked near 341 East Lower North Water Street by two unknown men who were dressed in black and one of whom wore a ski mask. The jury further found that Smollett told the original officer that the attackers called him racial and homophobic slurs and struck him in the face with their hands. The police report connected to these charges also indicate that Smollett claimed that a noose had been placed around his neck and a "chemical" had been poured on him.

The second set of charges returned by the grand jury involves Smollett's alleged false reporting of the incident to a police detective later the same day. Additional details that Smollett apparently included in the second interview include: the men approached him from behind, Smollett fought back, and all three men fell to the ground where Smollett said he was kicked in the back and felt someone pulling on his neck. During this interview, Smollett also told the officer that one offender was a white male wearing a black mask with an open area around the eyes that exposed the attacker's skin, the grand jury found.

While announcing the initial charge against Smollett last month, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said his department believed that Smollett was also responsible for mailing a threat letter to himself that set the stage for the purported hate crime. Nonetheless, no charges were brought against Smollett in connection with the letter by the grand jury.

The new charges against Smollett each carry a potential sentence of probation to four years if convicted. Realistically, though, Smollett is unlikely to be convicted on more than a fraction of the charges. Most Cook County criminal cases are resolved through plea bargains in which a defendant pleads guilty to one and, rarely, two counts of an indictment in return for a favorable sentence. Only by going to trial do most defendants run the real risk of being convicted of more than one or two counts.

National news outlets have been reporting since Smollett's arrest that he had already been "indicted" by a grand jury. As CWBChicago has repeatedly reported, those outlets were incorrect. Shortly before Smollett's arrest, a grand jury was convened in a so-called "John Doe case," a legal maneuver that is designed to lock in the testimony of key witnesses under oath to minimize the risk of that testimony changing later and to preserve the testimony should a witness go missing.

Smollett's attorneys are due back in court next week. CWB Chicago

Well he's getting the beating he wanted...

Let's hope.

I LOLed

Is he using the "ididdindunuffin" defense?

No, he's using the "themtwodiddo" defense, or some less pc derivative.

HAHA.

Good job Geragos

Sources also telling me #JussieSmollett lawyer-who is not licensed to practice law in #Illinois-is working to fix that so he can represent #Smollett in court. Next court date is scheduled for March 14.

Rafer Weigel  (@RaferWeigel) March 8, 2019

ABC Chicago is confirming CWB's story.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Cook County grand jury has returned a 16-count indictment against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, according to court records.

The Cook county State's Attorney's Office confirmed the indictment, which they said was returned by a grand jury on Thursday.

Smollett was originally charged with one felony count of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office on Feb. 20.

Now the grand jury has returned 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. WLS

So, what does that mean for a black guy in Chicago? 16 days of community service?

It isn't unusual for Cook County to reduce or dismiss charges.

Yep