Don Lemon: It’s Not Jussie Smollett’s Fault He Already Lost in the ‘Court of Public Opinion’

CNN host Don Lemon said during a panel that Empire actor Jussie Smollett is not at fault for already losing in the “court of public opinion” in regards to being charged for allegedly faking his own hate crime.

“In the court of public of opinion, Jussie has lost. He has lost in the court of public opinion and that’s where his battle is, legally if he has to go whatever he has to serve, if it’s jail time, if he has to do probation, if he has to pay whatever, but in the court of public opinion, it matters,” Lemon said.

“And he lost that because of how, and not his fault, maybe people were, I don’t know what they were saying to him, maybe because of his representatives. Who knows? But it was handled poorly,” he continued.

“I don’t know if it’s not his fault,” CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson rebuffed. “The fact is, well he went out and did the interview.”

Since the reported attack, Lemon told ET he had been texting Smollett every day to check in on him.

“So every day I say… ‘I know you think I’m annoying you, but I just want to know how you’re doing. And that you’re OK. And that if you need somebody you can talk to me because there’s not a lot of us out there,'” Lemon said. “Sometimes he responds, sometimes he doesn’t. He responded and said, ‘You are not annoying.'”

Watch above, via CNN.