CNN’s New Day provided more tone deafness Monday morning on the part of the establishment media in reaction to reports that actor Jussie Smollett orchestrated and staged an early-morning attack against him last month in Chicago. But there were some surprising takes, most notably New York Times columnist Charles Blow admitting that, if reports are true, that makes Smollett an “insane” “psychopath.”

Co-host Alisyn Camerota went into damage control on behalf of the media in the 7:00 a.m. hour, stating to America’s “hall monitor” Brian Stelter that she recalled how, “in the hours right after this happened, that CNN — that our bosses were advising to pump the brakes a little bit because there were some things already that didn't add up.”

“I was, frankly, surprised how many people jumped on board to side with Jussie Smollett before there were photos, before there were police statements, before all that stuff,” she added. Way to go, Captain Obvious!

And right on cue, Stelter continued his press tour trying to cover for he and his colleagues (click “expand”):

Lots of parts of this story didn't make sense, but activists, actors, Hollywood celebrities, friends of Smollett, Democratic presidential candidates — they all wanted to sound like they were doing the right thing, saying the right thing, standing up for a victim. There's an inherent tension in this story between wanting and needing to believe victims and yet, knowing that people could take advantage of that, taking advantage of the idea that it's important to believe victims and that tension has been this story for weeks. There was a rush to judgment. I think it was mostly in the celebrity press and among activists and among Twitter people. I think it was really careful reporting by news organizations, but it all gets lumped in together at the end of the day. It all gets lumped in together in the minds of many people[.]

Between articles such as this one by Mediaite’s Caleb Howe, threads by the likes of Cameron Gray, and studies (here and here) published at NewsBusters, the media played a role in elevating Smollett’s version of events and has left the press with egg on their face.

Fill-in co-host John Avlon appropriately mentioned other recent fake hate crimes such as ones at the Air Force Academy and UVA, but he muddied the waters by insisting that we should “take a victim’s word first” plus “due diligence” and pleading to note that there is a “larger context of hate crimes in this country because in 2017, I believe it is, over 7,000 hate crimes in the United States,” which “was up 17 percent compared to 2016.”

Blow eventually condemned Smollett, but it was hampered by the fact that he went out of his way to defend him because, like Blow, Smollett is gay (click “expand”):

[I]f this is true, it was very believable that a gay man who could be gay bashed. If you take the celebrity out of this and if you dig down into your hate crime numbers, it is even more stark among people who are queer in this country. They are more likely to be assaulted, both sexually and not sexually and by everybody, including authorities and they don't have the platform. Many of them are estranged from family. Many of them experience kind of housing insecurity and food insecurity. They just don't have the voice and so, the big concern for me is whether or not it impacts those genuine victims and their ability or their willingness to come forward and say something happened to me....Jussie is very close to the character he plays on television. He is a musician, he is gay. He has — in his personal life he has been involved in some very worthy kind of community actions, including most recently, trying to save a historically black women's college in the south — Bennett College. He does that sort of thing.

Instead of trying to walk and chew gum at the same time, Blow and Stelter didn’t so much criticize Smollett (though the former would) as express concern about the impact this story will have on reporting hate crimes (which is also valid):

BLOW: I think Brian made an important point about, like, the collision of healthy skepticism — CAMEROTA: Yeah. BLOW: — with the historical truth that people are not generally believed on the — STELTER: And when it becomes cynicism and when it becomes an excuse to ignore real crimes and real problems, then that's even worse.

A few moments after Camerota laughably praised ABC’s Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts for having “pressed him on some of” the details in her absurdly soft interview, Blow finally then went ballistic on Smollett (click “expand”):

AVLON: So, by elevating it and making a national metaphor, what is he trying to communicate? If it's all the bottom of a hoax — BLOW: Let me — AVLON: Not that you can get inside his head, but he's the one raising this to a national element, which — elevating it to a national conversation, which makes the possibility of it being a hoax that much more devastating. BLOW: Well listen, if Jussie has done what the Chicago Police say he has done, it's not just that he's an actor, Brian. This is an insane person. This is — this is a psychopath, like, and — and there's nothing in his history that suggests that he's a psychopath. CAMEROTA: Well, why — BLOW: That's why it's so hard for everybody — that's why people are waiting, trying to figure out like please go back and interview him Chicago P.D. — AVLON: Yeah, got to do it. BLOW: — because we need to understand what's the motive because nothing — I've met him one time. He was the sweetest — it was just in passing at Essence Fest and I was with a girl I went to college with — she's a big fan and he — she had to have a picture. He was the most gracious person and I think that that's the kind of feeling that people have about him. So if you did this, we need to know — like, are you crazy? Like, are you — did you like literally lose it because nothing is adding up about why he would do this?

To see the relevant transcript from CNN’s New Day on February 18, click “expand.”