Despite being credibly accused of faking a hate crime against himself – a charge that earned him 16 felony indictments that were mysteriously dropped this week – Jussie Smollett has nonetheless been nominated for two NAACP image awards.
And USA Today reports at least one fellow black actor is thrilled about it:
"Black-ish" star Anthony Anderson told Variety on Wednesday that he hopes to see the controversial actor there.
“I hope he wins," Anderson added. "I’m happy for him that the system worked for him in his favor because the system isn’t always fair, especially for people of color. So I’m glad it worked out for him.”
That “system” never actually cleared the disgraced “Empire” actor of wrongdoing; instead, the charges against Smollett were mysteriously dropped after Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx – the same Kim Foxx who’s been accused of tampering with the investigation on behalf of Smollett’s family at the request of a politically-connected lawyer – announced her office was dropping the charges because Smollett had paid a $10,000 bond and done about 16 hours of community service.
If that weren't shady enough, Foxx's office later sought to clarify earlier reports that she'd "recused" herself from the case by saying they'd meant she had recused herself "colloquially," not "legally."
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel slammed the decision to drop the charges against Smollett as a “whitewash of justice,” while a local police union has called for a federal investigation into Foxx’s alleged mishandling of the case.
But apparently, faking your own hate crime and wasting taxpayer dollars and police resources in an already crime-ridden city, all in an effort to rake in a higher paycheck while smearing millions of Trump voters as potential violent racists, isn’t enough to get you kicked out of the NAACP’s good graces.