Let's discuss infamous false reports
the true crime that's worth your time
It didn’t take long for a Chicago jury to decide that Empire actor Jussie Smollett had falsely reported a hate crime, resulting in a guilty verdict for five counts of felony disorderly conduct. It’s a case that’s stressed me out from the jump, given its flash points of racial violence, anti-LGBTQIA+ attacks, and the detail that MAGA hats were apparently included as a costuming note.
This case isn’t the first one that’s made anyone concerned about real attacks, assaults (etc.) feel frustrated. I often think about Rolling Stone’s “A Rape On Campus,” which toppled reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s career. On the lighter side, there’s Robert Brandel, who reportedly faked his own kidnapping to get out of paying out $50K in Super Bowl bets.
If I know you all, you have your own bank of false reports that live on rent free in your heads. Let them out in this thread, please — and, also, let’s talk about why we mentally collect these strange cases in the first place? What is it about false reports that so raises society’s hackles? — EB