Trevor Noah Hits ‘A**hole’ Jussie Smollett: He ‘May Have Faked a Hate Crime Just to Get a Raise?’

Trevor Noah tore into Jussie Smollett on The Daily Show Thursday, mocking the Empire actor’s alleged attempt to fake a hate crime attack in order to get a raise on the hit FOX show.

“Are you kidding me?!” Noah asked. “This dude may have faked a hate crime just to get a raise?”

“This is such a petty reason to pull off such a major crime,” Noah continued. “Imagine if we found out the reason Tupac faked his own death was just to get out of a Blockbuster late fee. That would be insane!”

“Call me old fashioned, but whatever happened to just going into your boss’s office and blackmailing him with nudes?” the Daily Show host added.

Smollett’s scheme, police said, involved multiple communication with two brothers he paid to pretend to be his attackers. The actor reportedly paid the brothers by check, an amateur move that drew Noah’s mockery.

“They’re saying he paid his accomplices with a check,” Noah said. “What, did he also write ‘fake hate crime’ in the memo?”

“Even amateurs know, if you commit a crime you go all cash, people!” the comedian exclaimed. “No paper trail.”

“When this started out, it was a story about people who hated Jussie Smollett because he was black and gay,” Noah said. “But now, people hate him because he’s an asshole. In other words, they’re judging him on the content of his character and not the color of his skin.

“And that, my friends, is progress,” he concluded.

Watch above, via Comedy Central.

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