Don Lemon weighs in on Jussie Smollett: ‘There were credible reasons to be skeptical’
Jussie Smollett was charged Wednesday evening with filing a false police report, and Don Lemon, for one, is expressing frustration at the possibility he was lied to by the “Empire” actor.
Lemon briefed Wednesday’s “CNN Tonight” audience on the latest developments in the Smollett case. The star previously told police that on Jan. 29, two men attacked him and yelled racial and homophobic slurs and placed a rope around his neck.
The CNN anchor told viewers he had a 2015 cameo on “Empire” and met Smollett then, describing the actor as a fan and “a very nice guy.”
“I know him – not best friends, but I do know him,” Lemon added of their current relationship.
“We shouldn’t forget innocent until proven guilty, of course, innocent until proven guilty,” Lemon said, “but like I said, a lot of this just doesn’t add up. If Jussie’s story isn’t true, he squandered the goodwill of a whole lot of people. He even lied to a lot of people – if it’s not true – including me, and that’s not cool.
“He squandered the goodwill of very high-profile people who may one day be running this country like Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and people like President Trump,” Lemon said mentioning those who spoke out after news of the alleged attack.
“Like I said, there were questions about Jussie’s story from the very beginning, questions he still needs to answer. Innocent until proven guilty, but a whole lot of people want to hear from him,” Lemon said. “What happened Jussie?”
Earlier this month, Lemon told “Red Table Talk” hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris that he had been texting Smollett daily to see how he was doing after the attack.
“Every day I say, ‘I know you think I’m annoying’ – I can show you a text – ‘I know you think I’m annoying you, but I just want to know that you’re OK, and if you need somebody you can talk to me, ’cause there’s not a lot of us out there,’ ” Lemon told the women. “Sometimes he responds; sometimes he doesn’t.”
On the “Red Table Talk” episode released Feb. 11, Lemon said his focus wasn’t the skepticism surrounding Smollett’s account.
“I knew everyone would be picking apart his story,” he said. “That’s not my concern.”
Wednesday, he admitted: “The facts raised a lot of questions.” He added: “There were credible reasons to be skeptical of this.”
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