The Jussie Smollett investigation seems to have turned a corner over the past few days, but police haven’t issued a definitive statement yet. Regardless of what happens next, now seems like a good moment to remember that high-profile hate hoaxes have become a fairly common occurrence in the Trump era. Reporter Andy Ngo started a list on Twitter over the weekend and continued it this morning:
Right after Donald Trump’s election, the SPLC really stoked panic. A pro-gay Episcopal church in Indiana was vandalized w/“Heil Trump,” a swastika, & an anti-gay slur. Turns out it was the gay organ player who did it. He was only charged w/a misdemeanor. https://t.co/QxeOoBHohC
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2019
One week before the presidential election, a black church in Mississippi was burned in an arson attack. “Vote Trump” was written on the building. After much panic, an investigation revealed that the man responsible was a church member. Andrew McClinton: https://t.co/MYci3gQGJ3 pic.twitter.com/zceiCwG3Bf
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2019
I remember that Trump & his supporters were blamed for a spate of anti-Semitic, KKK & Nazi graffiti on the campus of Nassau Community College in Long Island in late 2016. The student responsible was Jasskirat Saini: https://t.co/874KEtymSV pic.twitter.com/tYtT90ufMV
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2019
In Sep. 2018 a black woman in Long Island said Trump supporters confronted her & told her “she didn’t belong here.” Her car tire was slashed the next day & a hateful note was left behind saying “go home.”
Adwoa Lewis made up the whole story. https://t.co/njVBvdjpoM pic.twitter.com/XEJh6NYxut
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2019
In 2017 @StOlaf College was roiled by mass protests in response to anti-black notes found across campus. Class was cancelled & admin caved to demands. An investigation found that Samantha Wells, a black victim of one of the notes, fabricated the incident. https://t.co/PAzVMUQtLi pic.twitter.com/KGRFXd55P0
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2019
In Nov 2016 a black female student at @VillanovaU in PA said a group of white men yelling "Trump!" knocked her to the ground on campus. However a police & university investigation was halted because the student didn't want to pursue the matter. https://t.co/KpFmoFHwH3
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 17, 2019
In autumn 2018 at @KState U, a note was left on an apartment that read "Beware n***ers live here! Knock at your own risk." The "victim" admitted to police that s/he did it himself. This was the 2nd time s/he had fabricated a hate incident in 2 years. https://t.co/mUexZjjQ5F pic.twitter.com/3qavmjXDge
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2019
Surely, we’re near the end of this list by now? Nope. We’re only halfway.
Who remembers when Trump was blamed for the spate of death threats to Jewish community centers across the US? Juan Thompson, a reporter who worked for @theintercept, was convicted for the hoax threats + other offenses. https://t.co/kHuZ5jMYYk #HateHoax pic.twitter.com/3DzsLSlbXg
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2019
One day after 2016 election, Eleesha Long, a student at @bgsu in Ohio said that white males wearing Trump shirts threw rocks at her & hurled racial slurs. Alleged incident sparked rage on campus, & uni hosted a "town hall." Long made it all up. https://t.co/AO1heX9adp #HateHoax pic.twitter.com/oMPjb5Otof
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2019
Charlotte: April 2017 Curtis Flournoy set an immigrant business on fire & left note saying “Trump is our nation builder for White America." When CCTV showed that perpetrator was black, some sites said it was a white Trump supporter in disguise. #HateHoax https://t.co/w2qSl5AikW pic.twitter.com/rAVwGcqkH4
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2019
Nov 2016 Chicago: Taylor Volk, a bisexual student at @NPU said she received hateful pro-Trump, anti-gay messages. "This is a countrywide epidemic all of a sudden,” she said at the time. The investigation found that she fabricated the story. https://t.co/EldYBPtfGH #HateHoax pic.twitter.com/h3o4YlMxov
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2019
2 students at @babson drove thru campus waving flag to celebrate election. Peers said they spat on someone, yelled racist & anti-gay slurs. This was a lie, but everyone believed it. They were kicked out fraternity. Investigation cleared them of wrongdoing. https://t.co/UKNalrMEVc
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2019
After the election, a banner in the east Bay area sparked fury. It read: "You can hang a n—r from a tree, equal rights he'll never see." People feared this was now #TrumpsAmerica. The man who put up the sign is black & did it to protest court system. https://t.co/WmpM7Cp5gg
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2019
What’s really amazing about this long list is that it’s still not complete. Remember the Air Force Academy prep school where racist graffiti was found? That was big news when it happened. That incident also turned out to be a hoax. The person responsible was one of the black students who was supposedly targeted by the graffiti.
How about the Odessa, Texas waiter who claimed someone had written “We don’t Tip Terrorist” in lieu of a tip on a $108 tab. It later turned out he wrote the note himself.
There was also a fake anti-Muslim hate crime last January in Canada. An 11-year-old girl in Toronto claimed someone had cut off her hijab as she walked to school. The attack was quickly condemned by the Mayor and the Prime Minister. Police eventually revealed it never happened. A very similar hoax took place in Virginia a few months later. This time the girl was 13-years-old and claimed someone had grabbed her, threatened her with a knife and ripped off her hijab. Police concluded that never happened either.
And who can forget the Whole Foods hoax? A pastor in Austin claimed Whole Foods had written a gay slur on his cake. He filed a lawsuit and the media was all over the story. Everything changed when Whole Foods revealed they had the whole thing on video. Suddenly the pastor apologized and admitted the company “did nothing wrong.”
Let’s wrap this up with the three black students at SUNY in Albany who claimed they’d been victims of a hate crime by white people during a ride on a bus in January 2016. The University President published a letter expressing his concern over the attack. A rally was held on campus which drew as many as 300 people to support the victims. Even Hillary Clinton tweeted about the incident. After reviewing video from the bus, police concluded the three young women were not victims of a hate crime but had instead instigated a racial incident against a white student on the bus (who they referred to as a “white b*tch).
Obviously, I’m not saying that there aren’t real hate crimes taking place out there. But there’s no doubt that in the last three years we’ve seen quite a few high-profile hoaxes which, at the time they happened, were embraced by people on the left as a sign that a climate of hate was sweeping the nation. Some people, and maybe Jussie Smollett is one of them, seem so eager to prove their political opponents are villains they’ll stage a hoax to prove it. That’s a shame because a) they are smearing a lot of innocent people and b) they make it harder on the next person who reports a real hate crime.
Update: I didn’t include it above but the Covington Catholic story pretty much fits this list too. Nathan Phillips’ account of what happened was that this was a racist mob about to enact a hate crime. either against him or the Black Hebrew Israelites. In fact, most of what he said about the incident was a lie. His group and the Black Hebrews were the aggressors, not the other way around.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member