the truth as if repetition of the lie would somehow erase the overwhelming evidence and even the confessions of his accomplices. of course, hate crime hoaxes do real harm. they are used to discredit actual incidents that often get less attention than this celebrity s scam. after all, the fbi reports hate crimes have been on a rieds, hitting a 12 year high in 2020. so it s no surprise, many initially took smollett at his word. so friends and fellow celebrities and many democratic pole tigzs put out statements of support including joe biden, kamala harris, and aoc, who absent any evidence, seemed to immediately assume smollett was telling the truth. right-wing talk tv has made much of this. ignoring the fact donald trump offered sympathetic words in the wake of the alleged attack. but as days went by, chicago sun times columnist mary mitchell wrote the incident sounds so bizarre, it s easy to doubt it happened. when cook county prosecutors tried to make it go away, chicago s democratic m