The View Host Calls Out Politicians and Media For ‘Impulsively’ Buying Jussie Smolett Claims

The View co-host Sara Haines called out politicians and the media on Friday for “impulsively” buying the narrative that former Empire star Jussie Smollett was attacked by Trump supporters because he is Black and gay.

Smollett was convicted on Thursday on five of six counts of disorderly conduct connected to staging the fake hate crime.

Haines said:

We’re kind of living in a time right now where two things can be true: you can love and care for someone and they can still make bad decisions and hurt people. And we rarely see that nuance at this point when you say you love someone – people are like, ‘I’m writing you off’ and endorsing everything they stand for and that’s just not humans. That’s none of us.

…

I think the problem that bothers me here with this story is that the biggest thing for a victim of any abuse or hate crime is that they won’t be believed. And I think when stories like this come out, the damage is in planting a small seed that could potentially make someone not be believed when it happens. The part that jumped out at me the most about this story, though, was the rush of leaders across this this country to do the right thing on Twitter and make sure they spoke up immediately in defense before knowing everything.

Haines added, “When you approach anything that happens you need to bring the information in, you need to respond, not react. And everyone across the boards reacted very quickly and impulsively on Twitter. And I just think it’s a reminder that you can’t dial that back in.”

Watch above, via ABC.