Jussie Smollett verdict: CNN panned for declaring disgraced actor guilty 'on some charges'
The former 'Empire' actor was convicted on five out of six charges after he staged a hate crime
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CNN went viral Thursday evening for the way it downplayed the guilty verdict of disgraced "Empire" star Jussie Smollett.
Smollett was found guilty on five of the six charges against him stemming from the hate crime hoax he orchestrated in 2019.
JUSSIE SMOLLETT GUILTY OF STAGING HATE CRIME, LYING TO COPS
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The jury found Smollett guilty on the first five counts and not guilty on charge #6 –aggravated battery, wearing a hood or mask to conceal his identity – after a contentious week of witness testimony, counsel arguments and deliberation.
However, plastered on CNN's website was the headline, "Jussie Smollett guilty on some charges."
Critics panned the liberal news outlet on social media.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"CNN is fake news. 5 of 6 charges is not ‘some’ charges," Reagan Battalion reacted.
"I honestly thought this headline was a prank when someone posted. It is real," GOP strategist Logan Dobson tweeted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Did Don Lemon write this headline?" Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross asked, alluding to the CNN anchor's involvement in the Smollett trial when the actor admitted Lemon told him the Chicago police wasn't believing his claims.
"CNN offers its distinctive take, which is that the jury found Jussie partly guilty and partly innocent. It was kind of a tie!" conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza exclaimed.
CNN did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In 2019, top Democrats, celebrities, and liberal news outlets, including CNN, all uncritically peddled the false narrative that Smollett was attacked by two MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporters at 2 AM during the polar vortex in Chicago.
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Even when his story began raising scrutiny, CNN's left-wing media guru Brian Stelter defended the media's coverage of the disgraced actor at the time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The narrative has once again changed from victim, you know, to villain, back to victim, it's been very confusing... people don't know what to believe and we may never really know what happened on that street in Chicago," Stelter said.