Jussie Smollett & Media Reports — ‘Empire’ Actor Surprises Journalists and Reporters

Brian Stelter, chief media correspondent for CNN, was baffled. “You know, we saw a lot of politicians and Hollywood celebrities and activists rally around Jussie Smollett’s side as soon as he made these accusations several weeks ago,” he said on Saturday night after his own network, among others, had begun reporting that Chicago police believed Jussie Smollett had staged a fake hate-crime attack against himself. Stelter continued,“And there are good reasons why they believed him. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would think of orchestrating something like this.”

Ana Cabrera, CNN anchor, was equally flummoxed Saturday night: “The big question, then, is why?” she asked. “Why he would make something like this up?”

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Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

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Brian Stelter, chief media correspondent for CNN, was baffled. “You know, we saw a lot of politicians and Hollywood celebrities and activists rally around Jussie Smollett’s side as soon as he made these accusations several weeks ago,” he said on Saturday night after his own network, among others, had begun reporting that Chicago police believed Jussie Smollett had staged a fake hate-crime attack against himself. Stelter continued,“And there are good reasons why they believed him. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would think of orchestrating something like this.”

Ana Cabrera, CNN anchor, was equally flummoxed Saturday night: “The big question, then, is why?” she asked. “Why he would make something like this up?”