CNN host Don Lemon ripped Jussie Smollett on CNN on Thursday for lying to authorities about a hoax hate crime, but the network anchor left out any mention of his own alleged role in the saga.
A Chicago jury convicted Smollett on five counts of felony lying to police officers on Thursday after the former “Empire” actor claimed made a number of false claims about a January 2019 incident. Smollett claimed that two men in masks, one also wearing a red hat, jumped him while yelling homophobic slurs and pro-Trump slogans outside of a Subway at 2 a.m. in Chicago. Smollett also claimed the two men threw a bleach-like substance on him and hung a noose on his neck.
Smollett’s allegations launched a weeks-long investigation by Chicago police. During the trial, Smollett claimed that Lemon, citing police sources, tipped him off that the police were growing skeptical of Smollett’s claims as the investigation progressed. After Lemon’s tip, Smollett backed off cooperation with the authorities, refusing to hand over his phone to police investigators.
After the jury delivered Smollett’s conviction over the hoax on Thursday, Lemon ripped into the actor during his CNN show during a discussion with legal analyst Joey Jackson. Lemon said that Smollett “had to make up too many lies” to cover up the hoax attack he orchestrated, according to the New York Post.
“I guess he got caught up in that because he took the stand himself. He got angry with the prosecutor as the prosecutor poked holes in his story, calling the only other witnesses liars,” Lemon continued. The CNN host also said Smollett’s actions make it harder for “legitimate victims of hate crimes” to come forward.
Lemon did not mention his own purported role in Smollett’s saga. As The Washington Examiner reported:
What did not come up was Smollett testifying in court Monday that Lemon sent him a text message warning him that Chicago police doubted his story, which led to his resistance in handing over his phone records. Smollett’s defense attorney said he plans to appeal the conviction.
Lemon didn’t mention the Smollett case at all in the second hour he was on the air.
Smollett snapped at prosecutors on Tuesday as he testified in the trial over his false claims of an attack. Smollett’s testimony apparently did not sway jurors as they convicted him on five of six counts of felony misconduct that carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. Judge James Linn reprimanded Smollett multiple times during the trial for his testy responses to prosecutors. As The Daily Wire reported:
In questioning the defendant over Instagram, Smollett at one point snapped, “Mr. Webb, with all due respect, you do not understand Instagram.”
“You’re misrepresenting me to the jury and to the entire court, and it’s not fair,” Smollett said, according to the New York Post. “Without showing the actual Insta stories that I posted, they’re not getting the full story so they don’t understand.”
After Webb tried to smooth things over by appealing to his “older” age, Judge Linn stepped in and lectured Smollett on his testy response to the prosecutor, “Just answer his questions without arguing. Your lawyer will have a chance to clear it up,” Linn said.