Mere hours after actor Jussie Smollett falsely told police he had been attacked in January of 2019, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) took to Twitter to come to the defense of the lying actor.
“Jussie is my friend – a very talented & beautiful human being. It is so hurtful that homophobic haters would dare hurt someone so loving and giving. I’m dedicated to finding the culprits and bringing them to justice. Jussie did not deserve to be harmed by anyone,” Waters tweeted.
Jussie is my friend – a very talented & beautiful human being. It is so hurtful that homophobic haters would dare hurt someone so loving and giving. I’m dedicated to finding the culprits and bringing them to justice. Jussie did not deserve to be harmed by anyone!
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) January 30, 2019
“Smollett contends he was targeted by two Trump supporters, who verbally and physically accosted him as he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop in downtown Chicago on January 29. The actor says the men called him a “f*****” and a “n*****,” tied a noose around his neck, poured bleach on him, and kicked him in the ribs,” The Daily Wire reported in 2019.
Along with calling Smollett a friend, Waters has also said she considers him “like a son.”
On Thursday, a jury in Chicago found Waters’ friend guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct, The Daily Wire reported. According to Fox New’s Matt Finn, the only count Smollett was found not guilty of was lying about aggravated battery “because his attackers were wearing masks.”
Waters has yet to delete her tweet or issue a statement following the jury’s verdict on Smollett. Some may be wondering if she still considers Smollett like a son, but her silence on the actor’s latest verdict suggests she may not want anything to do with her “son” at the moment. In February of 2019, Waters said she “would be disappointed if it was a hoax.” She told Variety, “We marched in the Pride Parade together. He introduced me at Black Girls Rock. And so I believed him when I heard about it.”
When Smollett’s charges were initially dropped in March of 2019, Waters said it was the “correct thing.” She commented, “First of all, we probably will never know all of the details. We’ve heard a lot of information. No one was hurt — that is, physically, killed, shot — he never committed a crime before, he forfeited the bail and it’s this kind of situation where they close the case all over the country every day. I have learned this isn’t unusual.”
Smollett’s lead defense attorney, Nenye Uche, has signaled he will appeal Smollett’s guilty verdict, saying his client is innocent. “We feel 100 percent confident that this case will be won on appeal,” Uche said. “Unfortunately, that’s not the route we wanted but sometimes that’s the route you have to take to win, especially a case where we remain 100 percent confident in our client’s innocence.”
For Maxine Waters, the verdict in the Smollett trial means that the culprit she was so dedicated to finding has been caught, as The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro pointed out. “Congrats to Maxine Waters on finding the real culprit,” he tweeted after the verdict.
Congrats to Maxine Waters on finding the real culprit https://t.co/P3TBZRu1cw
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 10, 2021