Count Tracy Morgan among the skeptics who just dont buy Jussie Smolletts account of the attack that put him in the hospital in January. Smollett was cleared last week on 16 felony charges of disorderly conduct, weeks after police accused him of falsely reporting a hate crime; Chicago police continue to believe that Smollett staged his attack due to dissatisfaction with his salary on Empire, while Smolletts attorneys call the continued scrutiny a “smear campaign.”
Morgan, however, has clearly picked a side, quipping on The Tonight Show that hed been given a role on Empire. “They gave me millions of dollars,” he said. “Contractually, all I gotta do is not fake a hate crime!”
When Jimmy Fallon asked whether he believed Smolletts story, Morgan started riffing: “Racists dont be watching Empire, man!”
But really, Morgans main problem with the story was the weather. The alleged attack happened in Chicago in January. “Come on! First of all—racist people dont be jumping nobody in the polar vortex,” he said. “Its too cold. They say, Well be racist in the spring!”
Morgan also made hay of the fact that Smolletts story began with the actor getting a sandwich at Subway. The comedian described a (presumably imagined) video of the attack: “It was, like, 10 seconds of footage, and then he disappears for like two seconds, then he reappears with the noose on his neck still holding the Subway sandwich!” Morgan said. “He aint let that Subway sandwich go. I think it was pepperoni and cheese. I dont know.”
Morgan is, of course, just the latest in a series of comedians to mock Smollett over the increasingly messy ordeal surrounding his attack. Late-night hosts have been having their fun for weeks, and over the weekend, Chris Rock piled on as well, saying onstage at the N.A.A.C.P. Image Awards, “They said no Jussie Smollett jokes. I know! What a waste of light skin. You know what I could do with that light skin? That curly hair? My career would be out of here. Fucking running Hollywood!”
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