Fake Hate Crime or Subway Sandwich Marketing Campaign? The Truth About Jussie Smollet? (2025)

➡ The text discusses a podcast episode that reviews a documentary about the controversial case of actor Jussie Smollett, who claimed to be a victim of a hate crime in 2019. The hosts discuss the details of the case, including Smollett’s claim of being attacked by two men, the skepticism of the police, and the involvement of two Nigerian brothers. They also mention the role of Smollett’s lawyer and the actor’s attempt to use the incident to gain notoriety. The hosts express their own doubts about Smollett’s story, but also acknowledge the documentary’s attempt to present both sides of the story.
➡ An actor, hoping to boost his status, allegedly hired two extras from his TV show to stage a racially motivated attack on him. The plan was discovered when the extras were arrested upon returning from Nigeria, where they had fled after the incident. They revealed the actor’s scheme, including a payment of $3,500, which the actor claimed was for an illegal herbal steroid. The actor’s credibility was further damaged when he incorrectly identified the attackers in security footage, and a suspicious letter he received prior to the attack was revealed.
➡ The text discusses a case where a person is accused of faking an attack on himself and filing a false police report. The person is also suspected of mailing a threatening letter to himself, which is a federal crime. Despite these accusations, the person maintains his innocence throughout a documentary about the case. The text also mentions how the person’s supporters initially back him up, but eventually distance themselves as doubts about his honesty grow.
➡ The documentary discusses the case of Jussie Smollett, who is believed to have staged an attack on himself. It suggests that the Nigerian brothers involved may have done it for attention and that the Chicago police, who have a history of corruption, may have mishandled the case. The documentary also presents conflicting eyewitness accounts and video footage, which further complicates the case. Despite this, the evidence seems to point towards Smollett’s guilt, making the documentary a compelling watch.
➡ The movie discusses a conspiracy theory involving politics and an anti-lynching bill, but doesn’t provide enough evidence or detail. The film tries to convince viewers of an injustice, but lacks proof and seems biased. Despite this, it’s still recommended for those interested in the case. The article ends with a promotion for a comic book and a song.

Like O.J. casey Anthony and Jesse Smollett all team up and they’re like, we’re going to find the actual criminals behind these horrible crimes. Under the docks. Buried deeper. We breaking the locks. Black clip. They erase all the shots. They collect the dots. Under the docks. Under the docks. Yeah, under the docks. That. Welcome back to under the Docks with Paranoid American and Sean Chris charting through the treacherous waves of documentaries and letting you know if they sink or swim. Don’t Forget, go to paranoidamerican.com kill them birds.com and like subscribe and share the show. Today’s episode, the truth about Jesse Smollett.

A 2025 film directed by Ghana Rehill justice for Jussie. We already, we already got an advocate over here if you guys don’t know about the Jesse Smollett story. He got brutally beat up by some MAGA guys. They put a rope around his neck loosely with a rope. It looks more like a string, but anyways a rope, a noose around his neck. It’s shoelace but whatever. But he still had enough time get his subway to his house. And that is the real story here that he was able to save the subways. I feel like Subway should actually have capitalized on that and did a whole marketing campaign about like look, this guy almost got lynched and he still was willing to make sure he got his Subway sandwich.

And it’s, it’s worth that. Like that’s how good these sandwiches are. Plotting the course. So for this one, if you don’t know about the Jesse Smollet case 2019 incident where he claims that I think two in the morning, this is the timeline. About 12 between 12am and 2am he went to a subway walk to a subway in Chicago. After he leaves, he exits two mass men get but enough to where you could see the white of their skin and they beat him and told him this is MAGA country. And they put a noose around his neck and then they left him for dead and he just ran all the way home.

Like they actually have the footage of him running all the way home after he stopped to get his Subway sandwich off the ground. Yeah, after it flung on the ground and he was still able to pick it up. And I will say they, they did not break the bag. Those must be very, very good bags for him to be in a tussle. And it does not shred everywhere and the sandwich is lost. No, it was nice in that bag. Wrapped up, ready to go. So when he got home, it’s the preservatives that they put in the meat.

That’s what it is. It’s like glue. So he makes a police report, claims a hate crime, that he was attacked by MAGA people, does an interview. Now, this particular documentary was interesting to me because I went in thinking, oh, we’re getting some bias, for sure. Propaganda. Which I’m not saying there’s no propaganda in there, but they did kind of play both sides pretty interestingly, right? They kind of give you a full spectrum of what was going on. So as it unfolds, he. He’s making these claims and the cops are like. They even showed the police chief of Chicago and he was like, one of the guys, and he was like, what the hell? This hate crime in Chicago, he’s pissed off, he’s cussing up a storm.

He’s like, how in this modern day and time, I can’t believe this happens. Then he’s like, oh, this guy’s a liar. They said that immediately. They looked at the footage and they were like, I’ve never seen someone walk so gingerly with a subway bag after attack, being attacked. He said, most people after being attacked are not going to be. They’re just trying to get away. They’re. They’re. They’re not worried about any of their belongings or anything at all. Just survival at that point. So right away, the police were like, this smells like bull crap to us because the sandwich is intact.

He’s walking into his place. Then they even show the. The body cam footage of him and he has the little shoelace around his neck. And they were like claiming, because there also was cool. That they interviewed the chief. They also had Jesse Smollett there. So you had context to where they were able to defend themselves in the situations they were saying, like, dude, this guy, like, literally put a noose back on to show us. And he goes, nuh. I didn’t just put it back on. I had put it back on when I got home. So people would.

You’re like, yeah, that’s the same thing, man. It’s not that just because you did it an hour earlier than they said. But he was trying to emphasize. No, I had to show the realism of what happened. And right away the police force called bs. It’s really interesting because we get throughout this documentary, it’s cut between interviews with all the major players. Like Jussie Smollett has an exclusive interview for this. This documentary. So it’s cutting in between what he’s saying happened, and then it cuts in between with what the. The police chief at the Time says happened, and it.

It’ll go back and forth between both of them. So you really do get kind of both sides of the story. And then it starts unfolding more and more. Because the next point is that beyond the footage of him going back to the hotel, because you know what? I’m not going to blame someone for not acting 100% rational after they just got jumped and they’ve got adrenaline running through their body. I. Who’s to say that if I got jumped and my subway sandwich was just inches away, I wouldn’t grab it before then I went home. And maybe I’m gonna act a little gingerly.

Who knows? Like, I’m. Honestly, that’s. That’s not any kind of thing that I would damn someone over. But then they’re like, okay, you know, Chicago’s a busy place, and, you know, but this happened to be a night during a polar vortex event. And it was the coldest. Like, one of the coldest nights on record and that everyone was just staying inside. And the fact that you would even go to a subway. Although, again, in defense, then it cuts back to Jesse, and he’s like, yeah, me and the guys working there and the other two people that were in the subway also getting sandwiches next to me.

So I guess it’s not that crazy. And they show the footage, and sure enough, there’s like, another dude in. Like, he’s waiting for someone else to. To place their subway order at 2:30am during a polar vortex. So, I mean, again, like, I don’t damn them for that. But then they’re like, okay. So then we traced all the ride shares and all the taxis and all the foot traffic, and there was exactly one ride share that entire night in that area. And here’s the dudes that got that ride share. And then it kind of like unfolds from there.

Yeah. And then that’s when you kind of get introduced to the Nigerian brothers that were working also on the Empire set. Because Jesse Smollett, his big acting role was a Empire, a show on Fox about, like, the record industry. I’ve never actually seen it, but at the time, I didn’t follow this case. So it was a little interesting. Like, I kind of knew bits and pieces of like, you know, I knew about the Nigerian brothers. And then they claimed they even have an interview with them. So that’s what I was liking. Like, and they’re like, yeah, you.

You know, they get called in and they’re like, they get laid lawyer up right away. With which I will say their lawyer Obviously wanted to sleep with them because she was like, yeah, I met their mom. And I was like, if you need a lawyer, but if your sons need a lawyer, let me know. And I’m there. Like, she was a little. Little graphic. She was like. I liked her, man. She was. She was an awesome character. Yeah, she is awesome. And I actually feel like she’s probably a really good lawyer, like, because she is like that.

Like, in. She finds the details that you wouldn’t expect and because I think that she gets underestimated because how she looks and, like, maybe acts like people think, oh, they underestimate her. And I think that. I think she did very well. And some of the things she found and she. I like how she skirts through the law. Like, she’s like, ungovernable a little bit. Like, and I like that in a lawyer where you’re like, yeah. She’s like, I go down to the police station when they bring both the Nigerian brothers, and she’s like, I just found out that Jesse Smollett did this ABC interview where he’s doing a tell all interview.

And he’s like, yeah, you know, I hope that they’re never gonna find them. And it’s so sad. And like, you know, this whole victim BLM trying to be the face, because that’s what they kind of insinuate is that he was trying to be the face, kind of a blm at the time of, like, getting this, like, notoriety of, like, look what I’ve gone through. She was trying to ride the wave. At the very least. He was. He was like, hey, man, I just read the room, and it looks like this is marketable right now. And if only I could somehow insert myself into this movement, then I could elevate my status.

I could go from just an actor on a TV show to, like a cultural icon. That was kind of the premise that they’re painting, especially from the police side. When she goes into the police station to kind of go see where these brothers are at, she kind of tells her demeanor and all this. And she shows them the video, which she’s like, ah, you’re not supposed to do, but I brought my phone into the, you know, the holding cells, basically. And, like, I was showing them and they’re like, what the hell is going on? Like, he’s on there, like, telling, like, basically, like, man, I don’t know who these guys were.

And, like, it’s a racist thing. So they get this inclination of like, you know what? We’re cooperating. Like, we’re gonna tell Them the truth. And they come out with like, oh, yeah, he paid us. He paid us. I’m his physical, his fitness trainer. I was an extra in, you know, the Empire Show. And he was just like, talking about how he wanted us to beat him up and like, that, like, this would help him. This is a Hollywood thing. And I kind of believe him in a sense, because the naiveness of somebody that’s like, kind of dealing with like what they would consider a superstar, you know, up compared to them being just like, you know, an extra in.

In know, they’re like, well, I guess it’s a Hollywood thing. You know, Hollywood does weird stuff. And like, you know, he’s like, it’s a publicity thing. Don’t worry about it. You know, we’re gonna give it to tmz. And then it’s gonna, you know, boost me up. So I think somewhat they do. It’s believable. Then the other some was like, yeah, you just also wanted money, right? I. I’m pretty sure extras aren’t getting paid, you know, top dollar. So you’re like, hey, paying 3, 500 for us to split. That’s not bad for us to do a little acting scene.

Yeah. So this is where the other narrative comes, right? So the. The main narrative that before it start, like the police actually have anyone to say otherwise, is that he’s jumped by these two racist white guys that are saying this is MAGA country and that they recognize them from this show on Fox, apparently even knew his character’s name or something, right? Like, they knew enough about the show to hate on him for it when he’s all bundled up in the middle of the vortex, whatever. So, okay, that’s. That’s the main narrative. But then with these Nigerian brothers that he hires now, the narrative is that, well, actually he set all this up and when they rated these two, because what.

What happens is that they trace these two brothers to the only ones that get a ride share. And then from the ride share, they take a taxi, and then they take the taxi to where Jesse’s at, right? Like, like a block away from where he’s getting the subway sandwich. And the encounter happens, and then they immediately dip and then fly their asses back to Nigeria for I don’t know how long. It was like a few months. They just go there, and at this point, the cops already know exactly who they are, that they’re in Nigeria, and that they’re just waiting for them to come back.

And the second that they fly back into the country, they stop the plane on the tarmac, and they extract both of the brothers, and that’s when they go to jail. So they already know that. That the. The jig is up quite a bit. Right? So that’s when the. The lawyer comes in, and she’s like, hey, here’s footage of Jesse. And Jesse’s, like, on a talk show, pointing at the security footage, like, those are the guys. Those are the guys that attacked me. Not realizing that at that point, the footage leaked from the cops. The cops knew it was the Nigerian brothers and not two white guys.

So the second that Jesse’s like, those are definitely the guys, they’re like, dude, this. This guy is, like, shooting himself in the foot because he’s admitting that it didn’t go down the way that he mentioned. So as soon as the brothers start getting questioned, they also get raided. They find, since they’re living together, but one of them’s got felonies for attempted murder, and then he also has a gun still. So now all of a sudden, there’s an issue. Like, they’ve got a felon living in the same house as a gun. And they don’t necessarily say, like, anyone claimed whose it was.

I’m sure that the brother without the felony was like, oh, it’s mine. You know what I mean? But. But apparently they’re probably in a lot of hot water. And this is all over $3,500, right? This is a check that Jesse cuts to them. So, like, he leaves a paper trail. The guys, like, are using their actual names for the ride shares and the taxis. Like, there’s paper trail all the way over this. That kind of paints a very strong case for the. The police and for the lawyer for these brothers. And to say, like, hey, this was all set up and then eclipsed the Jussie.

And Jussie’s like, oh, the. The $3,500. He’s like, oh, you know, I’m really embarrassed to admit this, but it was for an illegal herbal steroid to help me lose my belly fat. And it was like his whole explanation was just, oh, it’s this little simple thing. Why would these two brothers be making up all like, why are they flying back to Nigeria for six months to get him, like, an herbal steroid from Nigeria? Like, I’m sure he’s got access to all that in Hollywood. He doesn’t have to leave. Yeah. I mean, just. Even a physical trainer.

The guy is a fitness trainer, and don’t you think he would have it? And why did they have to stay in Nigeria for Six months, I’m sure it’s not that hard to get. And 3, $500 is probably gonna maybe just pay for the flight. It’s interesting because that, that becomes this completely other narrative. And that’s. I think those are the two main ones. The biggest shocked me is every time I was like, oh, that’s the actual police chief they’re interviewing. Okay, that’s cool. And then when Jussie shows up, I’m like, damn, they got Jussie. And then when the brothers show up, I was like, damn.

And they got the brothers and they’re asking them and they’re all the. And the brothers seemed that they’re not great actors. Like I don’t know if they could pull off fabricating this whole story and be as convincing as they were. And apparently they went in and they testified. And the jury also found the exact same. And this was a four hour testimony. So I mean, if Jesse’s the actor out of the three, he seems to be the worst actor out of them. Right? Because then it shows him in all the different clips. And when they finally sentence them, he gets up and he’s like, I’m not suicidal, I’m not.

He’s trying to make like a scene. And everyone’s just like, whatever, man. Like just, just keep it moving. That no one here is doing anything crazy. You’re the only one acting like doing too much. Yeah. And one thing I didn’t know that they introduced, so they kind of like tail back. And they’re talking about that before the attack, Jesse got a letter. And this is where I’m like skeptical, rolling my eyes. And they’re like, you know about this before? I didn’t know about this before. This is the first time of me hearing about it. And then they’re like, he got a letter and it was even cut out like a serial killer from a magazine.

And I was just rolling my eyes like this sounds like someone watched an old Hitchcock or like an old film of like a serial killer where you’re like pacing, you know, each letter together. I’m like, that’s. Why would you even have to do that nowadays? You could. The reason they did that back in the day, they didn’t have computers or you couldn’t afford a typewriter. Like now you can just literally just put in a different fonts or whatever you want. I just thought it was interesting that they did. And then they drew like a kiddish stick figure with like a five year old.

Like a five year old drew it. Drew it. And like shooting him with a, you know, like a little noose around it. And you’re just like, who did this, Man? It looked like a kid did it. Even. Even the front of the envelope that it got sent in is like, to Jussie Smollett. And it had the whole address, but it was also written like a 5 year old did all this in marker. So it’s interesting you hadn’t heard about that one before. I remember when this case was going, I was paying attention to it, and that was one of the other big speculations, was like, okay, well, not only did he fake this event that, like, he got jumped and it turns into a false police report, essentially.

That’s like the crime that gets committed is a false police report originally. And that now that there was. He went to jail for that. Now mail all of a sudden, like, it’s a federal crime to mail a threatening letter through the postal system. So now if they can prove that he already faked this thing, well, then now they can prove that he faked sending this thing to himself and using the postal system and accessory to do it. And now he’s, you know, going to go to prison for years and not just months. But that never really materialized.

And the documentary doesn’t really get into it beyond saying that it exists. But the implications are that he also faked that, but he never gets tried for that letter. And Jesse, throughout the entire documentary is doubling, tripling, quadrupling down. Is like, he is not. I do have a little respect for people like that because I’m like, if you’re gonna lie, keep the lie going, right? Like, don’t let. I mean, I can. Like, I’m like, okay, man. He’s like, I’m gonna. I’m out there. It’s like O.J. casey Anthony and Jussie Smollett all team up and they’re like, we’re gonna find the actual criminals behind these horrible crimes.

Yeah, it’s not us, for sure. It’s not us. Definitely not us. When the letter rose to me, because I think another significant moment to me to show, like, Jesse’s full of. Is one of the producers and the people doing the show at Empire, like, backing him up and speaking out. And then at some point, they’re like, you know what, man? We’re just gonna write you off the show. And during this last two episodes, two more to go. And they kill them off before that happens. That. That was interesting to me because I’m like, oh, these people are like, in this wave of, like, the BLM movement and like, you know, police brutality and all this stuff.

And then they still decided to go, we’re gonna part ways. And now you could say that’s maybe the people at Fox, but they stopped speaking out for him. And I. I don’t see why did. When they all claimed they’re activists unless they saw that it was bull crap. They’re like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, he did write that. That looks like his. He does little drawings like that. Like, we don’t know his day to day because supposedly the brothers had said because of the letter and not getting, like, the attention that he wanted from Fox to, like, you know, push it and fight against who did this and find out that’s why he wanted to set up this whole thing is like, he wanted Fox to take it serious.

But do. Part of me also thinks that Fox not taking it serious was someone with a brain that was like, this idiot’s going to get himself in a lot of trouble. Let’s. Let’s just let this die down and not make this a thing. Because he can go to prison if he tries to make this a thing. Like, they were doing him a favor. And in his mind, he’s like, I can’t believe they wouldn’t stand up for me. There’s someone trying to. Like, he starts smelling his own farts and he starts believing his own lies. And he’s like, there’s someone out there to get me, and you don’t want to do anything about it.

And I think that most people in his sphere sort of had an idea. Like, they even have interviews with his personal assistant, and she doesn’t say a bad thing about him, But I still get the impression that even she was like, yeah, this. This guy was lying. Well, in the beginning, it seems like she’s like, you know, a lot of the people that are on his side, they’re like, no, no, no. You know, Jesse’s this and like, like talking him up. And then towards the end of the film, they’re like, you know, like, they’re kind of like brushing it off.

They’re. They’re not going blatantly saying that we think he’s lying, but you get the impression that they don’t believe him either. That they’re like, yeah, we all kind of got duped, and I don’t want to speak about it too much, but, yeah, we’re just gonna brush it aside because he does get convicted. And like you said, he makes all this theatrics and then they make a deal. I think they. They took away his bond and all that. They kept his bond, and in the deal, he was like, they’re gonna let him out, I think. Was it Kim fox or.

Yeah, Kim fox. Yeah, Kim fox. D. A at the time of Chicago, you know, they were big on like, hey, non violent crime. So his lawyer was smart. She’s a really good lawyer as well. And she’s has also spoiler alert at the end, you know, she’s also the lawyer of hunter biden. So it tells you the kind of clientele she has. So she has to be pretty good at her job to clean some of this mess up. And she kind of gets the d. A. Like, you know, someone else in the d. A to be like, hey, you know, you guys are saying you’re against violent crimes and you’re trying to let people out of jail and you’re gonna let Jesse out because.

So they end up getting him out. The cops are pissed because they. They. They’re blindsided. They’re like, right? This is during, like, the height of like, cops is canceled. Live PD is canceled. They almost damn near canceled the children’s show power pops or whatever. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about? Yeah, the. Yeah, the cop ones with the chase, right? Like the paw patrol. Paw patrol, yeah. Like, paw patrol almost gets canceled, right? Cops literally gets canceled. IPD gets like, this is the point when you can’t be openly in favor of the police. In the corporate world, it would be corporate suicide.

So there was like a two to three year stretch when you did not associate with the cops. And this happened to be going on in that exact moment in time. And during that time, all the council members that were going and, like, hyping up the people were like, yeah, down with the police. The people are like, well, how about the DA’s? Like, the DA’s also need to just stop prosecuting and sending our brothers and sisters to jail for nonviolent crimes. So the lawyer was like, hey, you. You got this thing going, and I’ve got this guy, and he didn’t do a violent crime, so technically you should just let him right out.

If you let this other guy out, why is my client any different? So it was genius. I mean, it’s great legal work. And I think that it being high profile, because if this were low profile, it probably never even would have amounted to anything, right? Like, it. It probably wouldn’t have amounted to anyone going to jail or even getting, like, a false charge. And if it did charge, it would be like something like probation. It wouldn’t be like jail time. As it was, but because it’s so high profile, then it was on every tv. Like, yeah, it made a lot of people rub them the wrong way.

He wanted to become a symbol, but he did for, like, both sides. Like, he. He started to do the thing that he wanted to do, but then he was. He was so loud and so sloppy about it that now the state was like, well, we have to push back on this one. So then they made it a point to, like. Like, over prosecute for what he was trying to do. And as it goes on, then he’s. They try to get him again after he gets off his sentence, they try to reopen the case and. And get it to a grand jury and all this.

But then because of the deal he made, it kind of like, exot. Like it what muddied the waters and they couldn’t try him again. But then he was like, I’m exonerated. But then they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa. This does not mean he’s innocent. It’s just a technicality pretty much of. Because of the deal in place where we can’t go further. So that’s kind of where they start leading towards the end, where it’s like this gray area of, like, you decide, right. And I do like how the film came across the whole time. It’s pretty much giving you the perspective of all these different people.

People that disagree with Jesse think he’s a liar, people that agreed with Jesse. And then Jesse’s own words of, like, believe me, I. Why would I lie to you? Like, that’s what he’s trying to convince you the whole time to listen to him. So then you get to decide towards the end of, is he innocent? Who did this and why? Well, and they also. I don’t know if it was a documentarian that was associated with this documentary, but they interview a lady that’s doing a documentary also about this, and she’s 100% like, no, I. I believe Jesse.

And I think this is all, like, a big misunderstanding. And that the. The Nigerian brothers. I want to say that the Austin Dario brothers, that they’re just doing this because they want attention, and they’re also trying to elevate their position now that they’re in the limelight. And then they make a citation about how the Chicago police are corrupt. And here’s a list of all the different legal complaints. And I think we’ve talked about this one before, that if you’re a cop, you. You’ll probably have, like, all sorts of lawsuits pending against you from all Sorts of things that you do during your job and department basically just pays all that crap off to just keep their slate clean.

So the combination of all the police involved, I think they, they mentioned it was upwards of like 30 plus people that were working on this case on Jussie Smollett. So they pull, you know, the, all the legal complaints against all the cops, all 30 plus and add them up and like there’s over 600 legal complaints. And then by the way, here’s citations of the Chicago Police being corrupted. And then they show you that the guy that you’ve, that they’ve been interviewing for the entire movie, the police chief, he was kicked out. I think it was like two months before he was going to be able to retire and get his pension for being drunk on the job and like a whole list of other problems.

And it was just like, like, okay, I 100 believe that the police force are corrupt, but it doesn’t mean that every single thing that they’ve ever done makes is a hundred percent corrupt. And this is the one thing where it’s like, I don’t know, man, there’s a lot of evidence and almost nothing at all for an alibi sense, right? Like every single thing points to these brothers admitting this is exactly how it happened. The way they describe it makes a hundred times more sense than anything that Jesse brings up in the entire interview. So like, I, I feel like I this documentary, if this is the best case that there is to present on either side, like my mind’s made up, foreign.

Treasures and overboard moments, I’m gonna give you my hidden treasure. First, I, I thought the most interesting part for me is two scenes that’s really stuck out to me. One where there’s like a couple like this lady that had saw the report and she claims like, oh, I also saw that it was a white guy. It’s towards the end of the film and, and two witnesses claim to have seen another, another guy that was working around the area was like, I also seen that there was a white guy there in this mask. So they kind of try to get.

There was a rope like poking out of his pocket. But the one lady witnessed, which was interesting is it seemed like she didn’t come forward until she heard the case on tv and she’s like, well, I was out around that area and I saw that guy like, like she wasn’t there to see what happened to Smollett, but she was around the area and saw the guy with the ski mask. Again, they emphasized through the film that this was A polar vortex, right? Like, it was freezing. It was cold. So a lot of people are wearing face masks and stuff like that.

That part. And then at the very end, they show the two brothers. Or what you think is the two brothers getting into a taxi cab, right? And they show it to all the different people involved in the film. And they’re like, are. Is that a white guy or a black guy? And I found it interesting that the people against Smollett were like, oh, maybe that is a white guy. And then the people that were for Smollett was like, I think that was a black guy. Like, it was. It was this weird sense of, like. It brought me back to this Brain Games episode I watched a long time ago, where they’re having people play Three Car, Molly, Monty.

And as they’re playing that, they have a lady getting mugged behind them. The 20 people are faced one way. Then they interrogate the people at the end. And then they’re like, what did you see? Everybody’s inconsistent. They were like, oh, there’s five people that did it. Their guy was, you know, seven foot. The. The descriptions were so off except for, like, one person, right? Like, one person was actually paying attention to detail. So I thought the hidden gem really is, like, nobody really pays attention. And all these bias can’t even go the other way when you don’t fully know.

And how good is video camera evidence if you can show 10 different people? And then they’re like, I don’t know, maybe he’s white. Maybe he’s black. And. And you’re like, well, let’s go back to who got the cab and who got the ride share. Like, I don’t know why we need the video, but I just found it very entertaining that the people. Like, even the police chief was like, oh, maybe. Maybe that guy was white at the same time, too, though. And I guess Hidden Treasure was just that we actually have the people involved talking for themselves.

This is not like a narrator or a script. Like, you’re getting the words of the people. So you get to hear Jussie say something and then see the video footage of him in the subway. Like, I thought that was a huge hidden treasure. And the other one, too, again, like, okay, if you can’t tell who these people are, a. It shows the eyewitness accounts. I think it’s been shown time and time again that they’re, like, less reliable than almost anything else because they just. They vary so much and they’re so inconsistent that people overestimate how important have an eyewitness is like, it might not make or break your case.

Maybe it helps. But honestly, it’s not going to be the thing that carries you over. So the, the whole time Jesse’s like, I got all these other witnesses that are coming up, and I’m sure the cops are just like, yeah, we don’t, we don’t care. Like, we, we don’t take eyewitness testimony that shows up three months after the event as something, you know, that we calculate into the investigation. But then here’s the other angle, right? Like, let’s say you can’t tell if they’re white or black. From the security camera footage, you can tell that it’s two people walking together.

And then you can tell that there was only one ride share in that area. And that ride share, coincidentally, was these two guys that Jussie knew and worked with on a television show that had given them a 3, 500 check, you know, just shortly, just before this happened. And that when they were brought in for questioning, they, immediately after the, the lawyer showed up, they were like, yeah, here’s what happened. Jussie paid us 30 $500 to do this thing. It’s not like, was it a white guy or a black guy? We don’t know. Like, the, the guys that are in the video are like, yes, that’s us.

Jussie is on video saying, hey, that’s them on video. I would recognize them anywhere. And the actual guys on video are like, yep, here it is. We’re the ones that did it. He paid us to jump him. That’s like, that’s the narrative that he’s fighting. Not that was it a white guy or a black guy. It’s that did these two guys that say they did it, that were your friends and they got paid to do something for you? And I don’t know, it’s. It’s like in a bizarro world that anyone would still be like, man, Jussie might have actually been jumped by these two white guys.

I don’t understand where, how you’d even come from that. It’s that time. Sink or swim. You waiting on me? I’m gonna give this one maybe an interesting rating. Let me meander a little bit because there’s a lot of exclusive footage. You’re not going to find interviews from the brothers and the police chief Mjsse all made for one thing in the same place now or maybe ever again. So it is like the maybe definitive documentary about this particular event. However, they don’t really go too much into depth. I’M gonna give it a sink. And let me tell you the main reason why is that the full conspiracy theory here, if I put my tinfoil hat on, is not just that Jussie sat down and concocted this whole scheme and was like, I’m going to use this to elevate me.

Maybe, maybe he started from somewhere. But it’s also that he was surrounded by other people, politicians that had power and money that I, I, this is me just like putting my, again, tinfoil hat on. But it’s, they’re like get wind of something. Or maybe they’re talking in subtleties, right? But influencing him. Like, yeah, this might be good for you maybe if you did do this thing. And even towards the end of this movie, the brothers, as they’re interviewing them, they’re like, yeah, we’re writing a book. This is all politically connected. And he was being, he was doing this for politics.

And they don’t go into any more detail. They don’t let the brothers lay out their theory. And I know, I’ve heard this theory and almost feel that this a, either A, they also heard this conspiracy theory and they’re like, yo, we should write a book about this, make some money, tell people what they want to hear. Or it’s legitimate. Like, I don’t know, it’s one of those two things. But the theory was that Kim Fox in particular, but there was other people in the political party, it goes all the way up to the chain, it goes all the way up to Kamala Harris.

But that the Kamala Harris at the time was also had some kind of a stake in this and they were trying to pass some kind of an anti lynching bill. And that the fact that he actually had a rope around his neck made him the perfect poster child if he were to pull this off for this anti lynching bill. And the fact that it like didn’t come together and it all fizzled out might have actually been the reason that this anti lynching bill didn’t get passed. But that he, it was, it was maybe based on conversations he had with actual politicians with real power.

And it might not have just been a thing that he started on his own. That’s, that’s a crazy conspiracy theory. I would never condone any of that. But that is exactly what they were referencing. And because the documentary I think is supposed to be like the definitive one. And they didn’t even go into that, even though the brother brought it up. I gotta give it a sink. I thought that we, I learned something new which Is always good, which we talk about. I never heard about the whole letter thing, but to me it was still bogus.

Right. And throughout the film I could see Jesse was just trying to convince me or whoever was watching that hey, you should believe me, an injustice has happened. He’s trying to convince himself, as we say, right? He’s talking to himself like, I didn’t do this, man, I got jumped, I got a news. But with all the footage and everything, I, I just still think that he’s full of crap. Right. And as you alluded to, they don’t go into detail of. At least if you were going to prove that this was corruption on Jesse’s side of like the police, then show me that, show me documentation of, look, the police did this.

Like they just said, oh, the police chief was drunk. But that had nothing to do with the Smollett case. You know, the, the other things they brought up, it’s like, yeah, that did happen in Chicago, but that has nothing to do with your case. What specifically happened that they may, you know, that they fumbled on their end or corruption wise, they didn’t even explore that. So I’m like, if you’re trying to plead your case, why don’t you show some documentation and some evidence that like, hey, this is how I’m telling the truth. All I saw was a bunch of claims that he says, yeah, they sent me a letter, I did get beat up, a noose was around my neck.

But he has no actual proof. And all his deniability is this of that herbal. Yeah, I was trying to lose belly fat. It’s just like a bogus claim to me. So it was kind of a puff piece I would suggest to someone to watch. It’s not a bad watch. It does give you like a perspective of unbiasedness. But you’re not gonna get any depth from this film. So that’s why it’s a sink for me. Yeah. If I haven’t talked to you in a few months and then we talk like, this isn’t the documentary, I’m like, bro, you have to watch this one.

But if you’re were even remotely interested in this case at the time, or even now hearing about it for the first time, it’s definitely worth watching. But ultimately it doesn’t make like my top 100 list. So it has to get a sink. What is also worth mentioning is you can go to paranoidamerican.com, grab you a comic book right now, and maybe one day we’ll have a Jesse Smollett comic book. I mean, you never know what could happen around here. I don’t think so. Probably not. Probably not. But go to killthemockingbirds.com don’t forget to like share and subscribe to under the docs.

Share it to your friends. Share to your Mima. She might like the Jesse Smollett story, you know, and then sneaker and loose change, you know, I mean that’s how we get them. We get them with some of these mainstream ish documentaries and boom. Zeitgeist. You right there. This is under the docks. Thanks for another episode. We out of here. Peace, justice for Jesse. Ready for a cosmic conviction conspiracy about Stanley Kubrick, moon landings and the CIA. Go visit nasacomic.com NASA comic.com ciacomic.com Go visit NASA. CIA’s biggest con stanley kubrick put us on. That’s why we’re singing this song.

I’ve messed up. Go visit NASA comic.com go visit NASA. Comic.com Never A Straight Answer is a 40 page comic about Stanley Kubrick directing the Apollo space missions. This is the perfect read for comic Kubrick or conspiracy fans of all ages. For more details visit NASA comic.com. I scribbled my life away driven the right to pay. Will it enlight to brain give you the flight my plane paper the highs ablaze somewhat of an amazing feel when it’s real to real you will engage it your favorite of course the lord of an arrangement I gave you the proper results to hit the pavement if they get emotional hate maybe your language the game how they playing it well without Lakers evade them whatever the cost they are to shapeshift snakes get decapitated met is the apex execution of flame you out no regular bomb distributed at war rather gruesome for eyes to see Max them out than I light my trees blow it off in the face.

You despising me for what though calculated and rather cut throat paranoid American must be all the blood smoke for real Lord give me your day your way vacate they wait around to hate Whatever they say man it’s not in the least bit we get heavy rotate when a beat hits a thing cause you well them for real you’re welcome they never had a deal you’re welcome man they lacking appeal you’re welcome yet they doing it still you’re welcome.
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