As Twitchy reported Wednesday night, surveillance video showed the brothers who were allegedly paid to stage a hate crime against Jussie Smollett purchasing black ski masks and red caps — guess they didn’t have any authentic MAGA hats on the “Empire” set they could have borrowed so they had to go with what they could find.

Of course, President Trump has tweeted about the case, and not surprisingly, he’s not happy that his supporters were smeared as racist homophobes who would tie a noose around a gay black man’s neck and douse him in bleach.

.@JussieSmollett – what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019

After the Covington Catholic debacle at the March for Life, there were plenty of hot takes on the red MAGA hat, like Alyssa Milano’s op-ed published by The Wrap equating the MAGA hat with a white Klan hood, or an NBC News op-ed writer who equated wearing a MAGA hat to wearing a swastika:

I think people should be aware too that wearing a MAGA hat is aligning yourself with literal Nazis. It's a deliberate provocation, which is likely to spark and escalate conflict. That's what wearing them is meant to do. — Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) January 24, 2019

And kids in restaurants minding their own business are having the hats stolen off their heads after having drinks thrown in their faces. And old men in thrift stores are being harassed on camera just for daring to wear the hat. Gee, wonder why liberals are so hostile and easily triggered?

Of course, progressives can’t see the hate they’ve ginned up; they’ve just adopted a perspective where what they’re doing isn’t hate, but justice.

The Young Turks’ Hasan Piker wasn’t about to shed a tear for all of Trump’s MAGA supporters.

"why wont anyone think of the MAGA people?" trump said, instead of addressing black lqbt members who are statistically WAY more likely to be victims of a hate crime than any other group. jussie smollett undermined their experience. https://t.co/u0WRJfyFET — Hasan Piker (@hasanthehun) February 21, 2019

Of course they are statistically more likely, they are doing it to themselves!!!! — Matthew Grace Photo (@matthewgphoto) February 21, 2019

Except this wasn't a hate crime. Total fabrication. Hoax. — Cameron Edwards (@cams__thoughts) February 21, 2019

So likely they have to fake it to prove it happens. — Kamille (@KamilleKasshu) February 21, 2019

Yeah so many raging homophobes Jussie had to hire fake ones to beat him up?#LockJussieUp — Jodi ?????? (@sportsbook14) February 21, 2019

Because there are so many hate crime hoaxes? https://t.co/fBxWbL5Vbk — BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) February 21, 2019

Because this incident was about Smollett lying about "MAGA people". There was no attack on a black, gay man, so why would Trump mention that? It's quite simple. But nice try at deflecting ? Blame-shifter. — Tony? (@Sheasy64) February 21, 2019

where are you getting your statistics?? — Anthony Palumbo (@_ant_palumbo_) February 21, 2019

Jews are the most attacked group by hate crimes. Not blacks or LGBT. Data proves it. — Sohali (@sohali2012) February 21, 2019

Good thing the Left doesn’t have an anti-Semitism problem.

They weren’t targeted in this hate crime. He blamed Trump supporters. The gay guy is the criminal here. https://t.co/mRKZNSxDnW — ❌ Relevant Soul ❌ (@soulrelevant2U) February 21, 2019

Because Hollywood and mainstream media are still behind this little bitch. They don't give a crap that he faked a hate crime 2 impact a huge group of people that did not one damn thing. It's judge Kavanaugh and the Covington Catholic School boys all over — ??❌Crystal❌?? (@Crystal_Pro1A2A) February 21, 2019

Well they were the ones that he claimed did this, he could’ve gotten someone killed! — truthteller2019 (@someoneintx29) February 21, 2019

Seriously … there could have been riots if the weather had been more conducive to angry mobs.

Smollet specifically used this hoax to cast #MAGA supporters in a negative light…. they are the victims in this specific instance and you STILL won’t admit that. — Ramanan (@RamDas69) February 21, 2019

Why did he mention MAGA people? Because Jussie tried to frame the movement. That’s why. Pretty simple. — John Williams (@JohnWil50164694) February 21, 2019

Jussie Smollet's goal was to cause reprisals against white people and Trump supporters. He specifically targeted these groups of people based partly or entirely on racial stereotypes. You don't get to pick and choose what racially motivated action is considered a hate crime — Tom the Trashman (@trashmantom1) February 21, 2019

Yeah right Smollett did not try to drag MAGA supporters into the whole story, right!? — Giovanni McCavett (@giovannicavett) February 21, 2019

This is a horrible take. It doesn't even make sense. — Dustin J (@24DustinJ) February 21, 2019

This tweet has to be a joke. — Brad_Philly (@Brad_Philly) February 21, 2019

Trump is literally trying to decriminalize homosexuality. You can stop complaining now. — The_CSB (@TheCSB2) February 21, 2019

Except Trump is currently combating global criminalization of LGBT people…. so…. — Adam Bear (@American__Grit) February 21, 2019

Likely to be victims of a hate crime because hate crimes against whites don’t get recorded as hate crimes — Bamuh (@Bamuhh) February 21, 2019

Oh course they are more likely to be victims of hate crime. It isn't a hate crime when you attack white conservatives.

In other news, you're more likely to be attacked by a shark in water than land. — Tiberius Gracchus (@ONEnTWOnFREEDOM) February 21, 2019

Right now today 2019, being openly supportive of Donald Trump puts a bigger target on your back than being black and gay. Walking out of your door wearing a MAGA hat raises your chances of verbal and physical assault 1000% . Pretend it’s not true but it is pic.twitter.com/PlNYxOSRxO — Julius Porter (@TheFifthTop) February 21, 2019

Time and again i see the left acting insane. Declaring guilt without proof, harrassing people at dinner, ripping hats off kids' heads, harrassing other kids, all out of some twisted illusion that Trump is bad, yet they have no evidence for anything other than Trump is human. — Warhamster (@warhamster10) February 21, 2019

Lmao. Why don't you bring up the media and and politicians that called this a modern day lynching who have fallen silent? https://t.co/MA0uvowiVN — ꜱᴀɪɴᴛ_ꜰᴏᴏɢɪᴇ (@saint_foogie) February 21, 2019

Yes. @JussieSmollett needs to apologise to everyone in the entire country. Then he needs to go to jail. — Ken Poirier (@theking4mayor) February 21, 2019

Here’s a great mini-thread of common sense and civility:

If we want to begin to heal this country we have to start somewhere- the MAGA people absolutely deserve an apology. Many of them are normal people who don’t follow the news, but believe in respecting the office. They don’t deserve to be blamed for something that didn’t happen. — GreyWater Reed (@MearaReed) February 21, 2019

It’s unfortunate that so many people refuse to acknowledge that MAGAs are still people. They are not our enemies. They are our neighbors. They are our family members. Spreading lies about them is a disservice to our country. — GreyWater Reed (@MearaReed) February 21, 2019

They have a right to vote how they see fit. I don’t want anyone dictating how I should vote, and we shouldn’t dictate how others should vote. We can only do our best to inform people with facts. We have to end this idea of Us v Them. It’s endangering the future of our country. — GreyWater Reed (@MearaReed) February 21, 2019

It’s easy to confuse the people who support Trump as Trump because Cheeto In Chief has abused the office from Day 1. Most of us realize this and want an outlet to release our frustration. But by attacking each other we only hurt each other and ourselves. /end — GreyWater Reed (@MearaReed) February 21, 2019

Related:

Guy arrested after allegedly pulling gun on a couple wearing MAGA hats, but why he couldn’t flee the scene is an instant classic https://t.co/NbYJsOIpW1 — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 18, 2019