“What happened to equal justice?” That’s what Tucker Carlson wants to know. When news broke that Empire actor Jussie Smollett—who in December was found guilty of falsely reporting a hate crime after staging an attack on himself—was being released from jail less than a week after beginning to serve a 150-day sentence, Carlson was on the air. So of course he had to comment.
As The Daily Beast reports, the Fox News host had his very own, and very Carlson-esque, brand of reasoning for why Smollett is already back at home while those patriotic Americans who stormed the Capitol on January 6th and left several people dead in their wake are still “rotting” away in jail. “You saw this one coming,” Carlson told his viewers:
“Convicted hate crime hoaxster Jussie Smollett was just sentenced to jail, and now he’s been released from jail. Or is about to be. He was just a few days into his 150-day sentence, but this evening an appeals court ruled that Jussie Smollett can go home while he works to get his conviction overturned. Because he’s not a Trump voter. He’s not one of those January 6th guys rotting in solitary for more than a year. He’s Jussie Smollett, he’s a famous actor.”
For the record: Political leanings had nothing to do with the actor’s release. As he’s currently appealing his conviction, a process that his lawyers argued will take well over the 150 days to which he has been sentenced, they pointed out that it would not be fair to have him serve that time—or possibly more—while they’re working to have the ruling reversed. Which makes perfect legal sense, whether you’re an actor or an insurrectionist. But Carlson, of course, doesn’t see it that way—he chalks it up to Smollett being “a Hillary man” (which, as far as we can tell, is what Fox News fans simply call people who probably don’t watch Fox News).
Tucker Carlson
“Jussie Smollett is back home again tonight.”pic.twitter.com/bwSwEZ3zAD— ZZZ (@AskMeLaterOn) March 17, 2022
(Via The Daily Beast)