CHICAGO—The second night of the Democratic convention on Tuesday featured some of the party's biggest names and brightest stars. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff roused the faithful, as did Bernie Sanders, the socialist U.S. senator who nearly won the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. Emhoff's daughter Ella, an affirmative-action fashion model, goofed around in the audience. Michelle Obama and her husband also spoke.
Notably absent from the United Center stage was a widely known liberal celebrity with deep ties to the city of Chicago. Jussie Smollett, the 42-year-old actor who played a minor role in The Mighty Ducks (1992), is nowhere to be found this week. He was not invited to speak at the convention. Not a single Democrat has dared to mention his name in public, much less make the case for why he deserves a presidential pardon. But that doesn't mean they're not considering it.
Smollett is best known for claiming to be the victim of a pre-planned racist and homophobic assault by a pair of Donald Trump fans wandering the north bank of the Chicago River in the early morning hours of January 29, 2019. Democrats rushed to condemn the alleged attack as an example of how then-president Trump's rhetoric was fomenting violence, even though the details sounded pretty ridiculous at the time.
"@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know," Kamala Harris, then a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primary, wrote in a tweet she still hasn't deleted. "I'm praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate."
A subsequent police investigation found that Smollett paid two Nigerian bodybuilders to stage the "modern day lynching," which involved red hats, bleach, and a noose, which Smollett was still wearing around his neck when police arrived at his luxury apartment. In December 2019, the actor was found guilty of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for making false police reports. In March 2022, he was sentenced to 150 days in county jail and ordered to pay nearly $150,000 in fines and restitution to the city of Chicago. Smollett served just six days of that sentence before he was granted release pending the outcome of his various challenges. The Illinois Supreme Court agreed in March to hear an appeal from Smollett's lawyers but has yet to set a hearing date.
In other words, Smollett's fate hangs in the balance as Democrats gather in Chicago to nominate Harris. With five months left in President Joe Biden's term, speculation about whom Biden might pardon is starting to intensify. His son Hunter, who's been charged with felony tax evasion, could use a pardon. So could former senator Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), who was recently convicted on corruption charges. Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, a generous Democratic Party donor over the years, will probably try to secure a pardon as well. Why not Jussie Smollett?
Just because Democrats are refusing to discuss the issue at their convention doesn't mean party leaders aren't lobbying behind the scenes on Smollett's behalf. It wouldn't be the first time it happened. Cook County state's attorney Kimberly Foxx (D.) initially dropped all charges against Smollett in 2019 after Tina Tchen, the former chief of staff to Michelle Obama, relayed her "concerns" about the case. The actor was reindicted nearly a year later in response to widespread public backlash. Foxx declined to seek reelection this year and expressed frustration with critics who keep questioning her handling of Smollett's case.
There is reason to believe Democratic voters would welcome a pardon for Smollett. The party has shifted considerably to the left since the actor was "attacked" in 2019. That was a little over a year before the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked violent protests and calls to "defund the police," a policy that Harris argued during her failed primary campaign was worth taking seriously. Chicago's new mayor, Brandon Johnson (D.), is also a "defund the police" advocate who tweeted (and still hasn't deleted) his outrage following news of the fake hate crime. "Our nation will not go backwards in fear and hatred," Johnson wrote. "May these hoodlums face the fullest extent of the law. I stand with him in the pursuit of justice!"
Lee Daniels, the co-creator of Empire, the show Smollett starred in at the time of his "assault," said earlier this week he would be open to working with the actor again while casting doubt on Smollett's guilt. "I still don't know what to believe. Honestly, I don't know what to believe," Daniels explained in an interview. "People say he didn't do it, he did do it. God bless him on his journey."
The timing of the Democratic convention is particularly interesting due to last weekend's premiere of Alien: Romulus in theaters. Smollett appeared in a previous installment of the franchise, Alien: Covenant, in 2017. His character, Ricks, suffers one of the most iconic deaths in the history of cinema, being impaled through the back of the head by a Xenomorph's inner mouth.
