As Twitchy readers know, Van Jones held a panel discussion on Jussie Smollett, and while HIS own take was pretty far out there, one of his panelists did what we all knew they would do. Keith Boykin tried to make Jussie Smollett allegedly lying about TWO hate crimes a conversation starter for ‘ordinary Black LGBTQ people’ that would ‘bring focus’ on violence and hate crimes against that community.

K.

Instead of admitting what Jussie has really done will have the opposite effect on the very community he thinks this will help.

Watch.

The sad thing is that it took the story of a celebrity like Jussie Smollett for America to focus on violence and hate crimes against ordinary Black LGBTQ people. Let’s hope we can finally start talking about those cases now. pic.twitter.com/dZ7JwGCA4p — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 21, 2019

Let’s hope we can finally start talking about those cases?!

Maybe he missed it, but that’s all we seem to hear about, especially since Trump took office. And we get it, Jussie is his friend and he’s trying to find a way to pretend his friend didn’t just set the Black LGBTQ community back decades with this stunt, but COME ON.

HE FAKED TWO HATE CRIMES, HOW DOES THIS HELP ANYONE?!?! https://t.co/MhERyMFIXJ — Some chick named Heather (@hboulware) February 22, 2019

That. ^

That's not what happened. — Wes Ganobcik ™ (@ganobleberries) February 22, 2019

But he really, really, really wants that to be the case.

When were we not talking about it???? We talk too much and no action or moving forward. We get involved in the emotional hype of the the moment, like Smollett. — jean Sky (@SkyJean) February 22, 2019

True story.

HA! Yup.

No. We are now focusing on fake crimes. As it should be. Who you sleep with is no ones business. Why is that more important than crime? — Becky dotData (@beckydotdata) February 22, 2019

Are you kidding me? What a pathetic and completely asinine take. Damn, how in the world do some of yall get a national platform on TV??? ??? — Photog_Momma4 (@Photog_Momma4) February 21, 2019

This is CNN we’re talking about.

Everyone predicted this pivot. — That Guy (@AlaskaNorseman) February 22, 2019

I have no doubt that if a couple of innocent white guys had been captured walking through that security cam footage, he would have fingered them as his attackers without any remorse. — Lisa B. (@politeracy) February 22, 2019

Per various sources, Jussie was more than happy to testify against the WRONG people. It was only after he found out they had the right people in custody that he started refusing to comply.

We knew it was coming, but wow what a ridiculous #HotTake. Beyond stupid, but predictable. — William Keane (@largebill68) February 22, 2019

The sad thing is the demand for bigots exceeds the supply. Face it. This problem is not at the level you wish it to be. — JonJon (@john_busbin) February 21, 2019

And their precious narrative is dinged once again.

Related:

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Nice one, Spartacus! Dana Loesch embarrasses Cory Booker for his ridiculous Jussie Smollett tweet and Lefties just can’t DEAL