Former veteran LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman had some advice for former "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett. The 37-year-old is due back in court on Feb. 24 to face six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about his claims of a racist and homophobic attack against him in January 2019.
"Smollett could most probably save himself money and possible jail time by just admitting his guilt and asking for forgiveness," Fuhrman told Fox News. "But he won't."
Meanwhile, Smollett's defenders are calling for the city of Chicago to leave him alone. He was charged last year with staging a hoax hate crime attack, but the charges were dropped.
Talk show Wendy Williams conceded last week that Smollett is alleged to have done a "horrible thing," but encouraged prosecutors to "let it go" and instead focus on gang violence and poor schools.
Amanda Seales, co-host of the daytime talk show "The Real," praised Smollett for shining a light on hate crimes and stressed that no one was hurt by his behavior.
"Even if it was a hoax, this is really happening all the time. And even if it was a hoax for the sake of bringing attention to this, then I’m like, that’s low-key noble," said Seales. “So, no one was hurt in this situation, nobody — you know what they’re mad about? Their time. Their resources being used."
"Taxpayers resources are being used every day to imprison people who have done nothing but be an addict. So I don’t want to hear about Jussie Smollett," she said to cheers from the audience.
"Seales fails to acknowledge that Smollett, quite frankly, is responsible for every bit of this incident and yet still maintains his absolute innocence," Fuhrman told Fox News.
"Those people let off with a 'legal slap on the wrist' have admitted their crime, given some explanation as to why and at least acted remorseful," he continued.
"Smollett conspired to commit a hate crime," said Fuhrman. "The hate crime had two moving parts, anti-Trump and anti-black, with the underlying assumed motive of anti-gay. Smollett continued the third part of his crime by reporting the assault and false hate crime. Smollett furthered his culpability by lying to the investigating detectives."
JUSSIE SMOLLETT HOAX ALLEGATIONS SPARK POWERFUL RESPONSE FROM THIS BLACK REPUBLICAN
In Fox Nation's "The Fuhrman Diaries: Special Report," Fuhrman investigated the Smollett case and detailed the extensive and tedious process that police went through to apparently determine that Smollett was not the victim, but the perpetrator.
"[The police] investigation had to proceed in the exact same way to either catch the suspect or find out just exactly what was going on in this case," Furhman told Fox Nation.
"Long before they had all the surveillance [video collected] and they actually identified two suspects, they asked for Jussie Smollett's phone," said Furhman. "And Jussie Smollett wasn't going to give them the phone. This was the first flag."
To see all of Mark Fuhrman's special investigation, visit Fox Nation and join today.
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