"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett pled "not guilty" Thursday before a Cook County judge. He's scheduled to appear again in April. Robert Oliver, who submits articles periodically to Illinois Review, spoke with Brother X about the Smollett case. Brother X repeats a conspiracy theory circulating among the black community in which he says Smollett was "set up" by Russia, President Trump and the Chicago Police. (Ed Note: The following are Mr. Oliver's report on Brother X's thoughts. They are not in any way endorsed by Illinois Review)
By Robert Oliver -
Recently I interviewed The Honorable Brother X, CEO of the “New Black Order, ” Senior Executive Member of the “Black Enough Committee,” and the “Keeper of the Blackness,” regarding the news story of Empire TV actor Jussie Smollett.
RO: Brother X, thank you for taking the time to talk with me.
X: Brother Robert, you are welcome, and we will straighten this whole Brother Jussie Smollett mess out.
RO: Well, on Thursday morning, February 21, in Chicago, Smollett…
X: Ah, say Brother Jussie!
RO: (sigh) Brother Jussie surrendered himself to the police. Later that day, he attended a bond hearing at 26th and California where Cook County Jail is located. Bond was set at $100,000.
X: Only $100,000? He is a black star, an idol! Brother Jussie is worth a lot more than that! I bet if he was a white man, they would have set bail at $5,000,000! Since he is a black man, the judge made it only $100,000. Shows you how the system treats black men!
RO: OK, I will take your word for it (me sighing). Now you have a theory on what really happened to “Brother Jussie.” Can you go into the details?.
X: Brother Jussie was set up by Russia, the Trump Team, and the Chicago Police! They were all in on it!
RO: (long pause and looking at him incredulously) I don’t know about all that. I wrote this on social media two weeks before the revelations about the Nigerians came out: (reading from a tablet) "I am from Chicago. I know that Streeterville area. Wealthy white liberals live there. I drove a cab in that area many times. I know where the 'crime scene' was. If Smollett's story were true, his 'attackers' waited just for him, knowing exactly who he was, near the entrance of his building which was 12-16 feet from the corner of New and Lower North Water Streets. That is where he walked from. He would have encountered them immediately before he went in his building after crossing New Street. They knew he was out at 2 am and knew he was coming back shortly. And they did not wait too long as it was freezing cold from winds off of nearby Lake Michigan."
So we are in agreement that the “attack” was pre-planned and not random? I must say that your conspiracy theory involving Trump, Russia and the Chicago Police is kind of far fetched. (I wanted to say “wack.”) Let me read to you what the Chicago Tribune reported: “Police say Smollett wanted to give his career a boost, so he hired two brothers he knew in order to stage a fake attack one early January morning in the Streeterville neighborhood. One theatrical element: hanging a noose around Smollett’s neck. Somehow, Smollett allegedly figured, the incident would generate headlines and sympathy, leading to a pay raise. So the actor, who appears on the Chicago-filmed show ‘Empire,’ filed a police report claiming two unknown assailants attacked him, shouted slurs and asserted that ‘This is MAGA Country,’ a reference to President Donald Trump. Smollett paid the brothers $3,500, Johnson said, with a promise of $500 later.” So you disagree?
X: Yes I disagree! You know racist Putin in Russia always wanted to destroy the black Empire show! He hates black people watching TV! So does his white racist white homophobic racist white supremacist racist Nazi KKK traitor racist Cheeto Orange Bad Man racist felon criminal psychopath racist madman foreign agent Trumpfff! Putin has been known to interfere with American TV programming for years! He wants Americans to speak Russian, go to Russian steambaths, and drink vodka instead of water! I have been calling for special investigations! Putin wanted to break apart Empire piece by piece! Divide and conquer! It was called “Projekt Fall of the Roamin’ Empire” or “Проект Падение Империи Роуминга!” He wanted to start with Brother Jussie!
What a cowardly act! Putin is the embodiment of evil! Putin had his spies among the cast and crew of Empire! I am even suspicious of Lee Daniels! The Russian spies and the Trump Team recruited the Nigerian brothers to pull off the attack! The brothers bought the bleach and the clothesline like they were going to do laundry! They also bought the ski masks and the red baseball cap! Poor innocent Brother Jussie did not know that he was being set up! (Brother X weeps and I hand him a tissue.)
Sorry, I get so emotional when I think about all this! Those Trump people had the technology to fake a check from Brother Jussie’s checking account, pay the brothers out of Brother Jussie’s own checking account, fake that he was following the brothers on Instagram, fake their phone numbers and times of calls on those numbers on his cell phone records and even fake a photo of them and Lee Daniels together! As a matter of fact, I am not even sure they were ever extras on Empire at all! They probably never even heard of the show!
Now Brother Jussie must have put on his public Facebook page and public Twitter account that after he got back from the airport on Monday, January 28 that he was going to be out alone in the cold at Walgreens on Illinois Street or Subway on McClurg Court around 2 am and would go back into the building at the service entrance on Lower North Water Street near New Street! How else would those honkies have known where he was going to be? Also the Trump Team monitored Brother Jussie by his GPS on his phone, and they shared that information with the Russians who stayed in contact with the Nigerians! This was a very racist hi-tech operation! The Chicago Police paid Uber to bring them from Lakeview to Streeterville! They waited on him! And things went down exactly like he said on Good Morning America! He did not lie! And the Chicago Police helped and turned it into as if he masterminded this whole thing. Police say he was “unhappy with his salary!” He was very happy with his salary! I even heard he was ready to tell Lee Daniels he did not need $65,000 per episode! He said he would donate his salary to the poor in the future and live in a little apartment on Homan Street on the West Side in Chicago! It pissed him off that greedy billionaire Trump never donated any of his presidential salary!. Brother Jussie said he would even take the bus to work! And if he had to, he would sacrifice and take Uber or Lyft! Never trust the police. I would rather call a local gangbanger than the police if I got jacked in Chicago! Gangbangers are getting a bad rap! Now does this all make sense?
RO: (long pause and a sigh). No. But I said weeks ago that this whole thing was pre-planned, but not the way “Brother Jussie” described it.
X: Brother, you know the brother is innocent! He is a brother of impeccable character and integrity!
RO: This is from a news report from February 22: “Prosecutors say ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett gave detailed instructions to two brothers who helped him in a staged attack against him in downtown Chicago, including giving them specific slurs to yell and telling them to shout ‘MAGA country’ and to drape a rope around his neck. [Cook County] Assistant State's Attorney Risa Lanier said at a news conference Thursday that Smollett even pointed out to the brothers a specific surveillance camera that he thought would capture footage of the Jan. 29 attack. Police say the camera was pointed another way during the staged attack. Smollett is charged with felony disorderly conduct.” So it seems that Brother Jussie wanted a video to come out of the attack so that it would have been splattered all over the media. His friends, his family, his co-workers and his fans would have showered him with sympathy that would have lasted for years. And he may have gotten more money from Fox to donate to the poor! (eyeroll) His theatrics almost worked.
X: The lies, the lies, the lies! All lies! It will be proven that they are all lies and that Russia conspired with Trump to set up Brother Jussie! I bet Robert Mueller has already discovered that fact in his investigation! Brother Jussie is innocent, innocent, innocent! And not only that, he’s not guilty! (He cries uncontrollably.)
RO: Thank you, Brother X for your insight. (me sighing again while handing him more tissue)
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Robert Oliver is a San Diego-based writer and an IT professional. He can be reached at [email protected].
