By Dom Calicchio
Fox News
December 10, 2021
Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was found guilty Thursday on five charges of staging a hate crime and lying to police, raising questions about whether several high-profile political figures would offer apologies or attempt to clarify their past public support of Smollett.
“What happened today to @JussieSmollett must never be tolerated in this country,” Joe Biden tweeted in January 2019 when he was mulling a presidential run. “We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts. We are with you, Jussie.”
Then-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris also believed Smollett’s story and posted about it on Twitter in 2019, calling the alleged attack against Smollett an attempted “modern day lynching.”