The mainstream media makes no secret of their obvious biases, choosing to report on what they want and ignoring stories they’d rather see buried. That’s what makes it no surprise that notorious leftist Joy Reid blatantly refused to address the Jussie Smollett verdict during her December 9 segment on MSNBC.
Despite having the verdict before her show aired, Reid chose to open her segment discussing “legal setbacks” for Donald Trump dealing with the January 6 committee. She did this blatantly while knowing that the Smollett verdict was the biggest story in the country, but that it didn’t fit the narrative she helped construct.
And Reid is in good company with her decision. While some other outlets did address the story, they mostly downplayed Smollett’s conviction or blamed his motives on external factors. CNN reported that Smollett was “guilty on some charges,” even though he was found guilty on five out of six total. CNN reporter Brian Stelter decided to blame conservative news sources for the whole debacle. But even their reactions were better than Reid, who just decided to ignore the elephant in the room.
Reid also downplayed the verdict on Twitter for the most part, except for a bizarre retweet that referenced the situation. The “ReidOut” host said “Great point…” to an original statement that said, “If #JussieSmollett is being convicted of falsely reporting a hate crime, what about all the #Karen’s who have made false claims to law enforcement and tried to weaponize the police against Black Men & Women putting their lives in danger.”
Predictably, Reid had plenty to say about Smollett’s “attack” when it first happened. Her reaction to the original report of the incident said, “Nooses never really disappeared as messages of a very specific kind of terror, but every time they’re used, my God, it’s chilling. Praying for Jussie’s full recovery. And for us all.”
Smollett claimed he was targeted and attacked by apparent supporters of President Donald Trump in an anti-gay, anti-black hate crime back in January 2019. At first, he allegedly described his attackers as white males who yelled “This is MAGA country.” In reality, the men were brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo who knew the “Empire” star before the incident and testified that Smollett orchestrated the entire hoax. In part, the actor was caught due to the implausibility of his story and the fact that he paid for the crime via check.
There’s a good chance Reid will continue to ignore the story until it goes away. Meanwhile, she continues to report on the January 6 incident.
Even other leftists are getting fed up with Reid’s antics. Recently, Sarah Silverman called out the MSNBC host, saying, “Please read the article before you post this stuff you’re a news outlet. The truth has to matter,” in response to an article Reid shared about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposing a civilian state guard.
Reid called the move “fascisty bananas,” conveniently ignoring the fact that multiple other states have similar programs in place. It’s no wonder she’s ignoring other news stories that don’t support her very narrow, very specific worldview.