Jussie Smollett’s hate hoax appeared to have no negative impact on the disgraced actor’s career as he was recently spied on set of a new film alongside a big name supporter while actively appealing his conviction.
Having braved the notoriously mean “MAGA Country” streets of Chicago to satisfy an after hours Subway craving, Smollett’s crocodile tears were nowhere to be found as he was spotted in Orange County, California.
According to TMZ, which shared images of the race-hustler grinning on set, Smollett is now directing actress Vivica A. Fox in the upcoming film “The Lost Holiday.”
Having worked together on the actor’s most notable credit, the series “Empire,” Fox had remained a stalwart defender of Smollett’s even as the details of his fictitious claim to the Chicago Police Department about being attacked, having a noose put on his neck and getting splashed with bleach came to light.
In 2021 she had told TMZ, “I’ll definitely be doing something with him in the future,” and, “I believe in Jussie. Stand by, he’s good. He’s family, always going to be family.”
At the time of his sentencing to 150-days behind bars, for which he only served one week before being released pending his appeal, actress Taraji P. Henson had also vocalized her support regardless of the facts and posted to Instagram, “I am not here to debate you on his innocence but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime.”
Drawing a comparison to the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955, she continued, “He has already lost everything. EVERYTHING! To me as an artist not able to create that in itself is punishment enough. He can’t get a job. No one in Hollywood will hire him and again as an artist who loves to create, that is prison.”
Meanwhile, Henson failed to recognize that her industry was built entirely on picking winners and losers, and his five felony counts for disorderly conduct and lying to the police meant little to Hollywood as he received the start treatment at the 2022 BET Awards.
Disgraced actor Jussie Smollett turns up on BET red carpet and Twitter has some thoughts https://t.co/xpYKpY69xd
— American Wire News (@americanwire_) June 27, 2022
Now, after lying about the racist and homophobic attack that he himself had staged, his appeal which has been continued five times is slated to be heard in December. Should it fail, Smollett is expected to have to serve out the remainder of his roughly five months of incarceration.
According to TMZ, the actor’s legal team is attempting to overrule that conviction claiming that his right to due process had been violated.
Reacting to the news of Smollett’s latest project, the denizens of social media had some thoughts on him and his leading lady.
Lol this is pathetic!
— Joshua Kerr (@Joshuak713) June 24, 2023
Yoooo ONLY two people watch my movie and started screaming MAGA Country.
— Kyle Alexander (@BrahYouSerious) June 25, 2023
Only in America would this happen.
— PhillyGirl (@popcorn80337377) June 24, 2023
Vivian so down bad, she won’t turn anything down
— F racist, F black on black crime, F LGBT worship (@Bellstringer42) June 23, 2023
— Julie (@cntbme2525) June 24, 2023
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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