Which creates an enormous incentive to not back down one inch, so that even if most other reasonable people conclude he was party to a hoax, he may find some fringe group with whom to align, remain visible as long as they can stick together as Persecuted Ones claiming Hoax? Oh, That’s What THEY Want You To Think and calling upon the sheeple to wake up. I’m not looking forward to his podcasts.
I don’t know how fringe it has to be. In various comment sections I see a lot of “I don’t care what anyone says I believe him.”
You’ll see a lot of that with Mark “Glitter Bomb” Rober as well. There will always be someone who claims to buy the story.
A lot of actors playing even fairly notable characters in fairly notable TV shows basically never work again once their character leaves/dies or the show ends. In today’s culture of ‘no publicity is bad publicity’ I wonder if it’s 100% sure this will be a bad career move in the long run compared to his character just winding down (as I’ve read, never seen the show, never heard of this guy previously). Well I guess fairly close to 100% likely though. 
As to whether he should confess or hold out denying (besides whatever tiny remaining chance there is it wasn’t a hoax at his behest) that all depends what the police know and moreover can prove. It’s also hard to say how enthusiastic the authorities would be prosecuting him for the most serious crimes possible, like federal mail fraud if the previous threatening letter was also a hoax he engineered. They might still be wary of a backlash if there’s any aspect sympathetic to him once all the facts come out, and/or being accused of raising the charges to placate Trump supporters etc. They might offer a pretty good deal to just make it go away.
Well, that was short-lived. 
I know that criminals are generally dumb, but … these guys are really fucking stupid, like real next-level shit there.
Someone reminded me of this clip:
I’ve been censured on other website for suggesting that the woman at the center of it may have been sending those abusive messages to herself. :dubious:
And I thought this Smollett story was phony from the get-go.
Does anyone else think this thread should be moved to the Pit?
No. There is already a Pit thread, no need for two:
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=870927
Nah. I think we’re all in universal agreement that Smollett is not only guilty of fabricating this incident, but that he’s quite possibly one of the dumbest criminals in America.
I get the feeling that you aren’t Jussie’s Gurl.
Jussie Smollett has now officially been charged with felony disorderly conduct.
In Illinois, filing a false police report falls under the disorderly conduct statute.
I watched Empire for the first season and a half until I lost interest. I liked the music enough to download some of the tunes onto my iPod.
I thought Jussie was quite the talented young man. What a waste.
Right, one of the worst thing about the Brawley case was that her lawyers accused a few actual people of being involved in the supposed abduction and rape. Unless this case actually named real people as the assailants (I don’t think it did?), the two aren’t quite comparable.
I’ve had that song in my head too
Maybe a good actor, but he needs better scripts.
Regards,
Shodan
He was worried he’d be cut from the show. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Most criminals are caught because they are stupid, and they think, based on fictional media portrayals, that the cops are stupid.