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Jussie Smollett: The Narrativization of Mundanity
Almost two months had passed since ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett was found in the icy streets of Chicago by two white men in red hats, who proceeded to attack the actor while shouting racial and homophobic epithets until eventually tying a noose around his neck and dousing him in bleach. All the while the two men vehemently screamed “This is MAGA country!”
Or so the story goes.
Two months on, and that tale experienced a stress-test to the full extent of the law.
Elements of the story quickly unravelled, such as Smollett’s initial reluctance to turn in his phone, or the two Nigerian brothers who emerged from the woodworks who both alleged to have been paid by Smollett himself to carry out the hate-crime. These facts among others saw Smollett being charged with 16 indictments, most of which centred around the fact that the story wasn’t true at all.
Only a few days ago however, after forfeiting his $10,000 bond, Smollett walked free of charges from the Cook County courthouse. The unprecedented turn of events had shocked virtually everyone watching, with the Chicago PD being no exception.
While the reasons behind the abandonment of these indictments remain yet to be disclosed, there is indeed a growing atmosphere of dramatizing events in the US.
