Jussie Smollett‘s brother Jojo attacks the Chicago Police in a fervent defense of the Empire actor in a new op-ed published in BET.
“With not one inkling of solid evidence, many believed the false witness testimony from two suspects who turned into witnesses, even though they lacked standard credibility,” Jojo writes, later adding, “anyone would have concluded what we knew — that the entire police case rested on two witnesses that lacked credibility and there was no physical evidence tying Jussie to this crime.”
Jojo said that Jussie was convicted in the court of public opinion and now suffers nightmares: “What concerned me the most is, as the CPD continued their campaign against Jussie, I started to notice an online “bandwagon” approaching ignoring whether there were any real facts to suggest his guilt. In an effort to fit in with the momentum on social media, many appeared to roast him, demean him, and laugh at a traumatic and painful ordeal. Jussie is as strong as iron, but following an attack like this, there is a normal and natural amount of post trauma that mostly anyone should expect to suffer. I have literally seen him violently awakening from night terrors, following the assault. “
“His life has been turned upside down as my family and I have witnessed him endure unrelenting attacks to his character and reputation,” added Jojo. “Like so many others, this entire process quickly devolved from a focus on him as a victim of assault, to him being falsely accused and held responsible for a crime that was perpetrated against him. To define this experience as unjust would be an understatement.”
Read the full op-ed here.
