The Fall and Fall of the Smollett Empire

Let's rewind the clock.

Jussie Smollett has accused a couple of guys of assaulting him, putting a noose on him and shouting This is MAGA country at him. As you can imagine, the story makes national and international news, but just quietly between you and me, some things don't add up. 

Now Smollett is going onto Good Morning America to give Robin Roberts an exclusive interview.

Here is the sliding door moment - does he follow the tried and tested path of digging his heels in and doubling-down on his claims or does he flip everything on its head by dropping a bombshell and coming clean? 

I did it.

I staged it. 

Hate to say it, the whole thing was fake news. 

And why? To send a message to this country and to the world.

The fallout would have been massive and he would be in huge trouble, BUT... he would have control and ownership of the story. He would also have significant more credibility than he has now.

Dare I say it, after the initial backlash which would have been considerable, the pendulum would have swung back his way and he would be the recipient of a lot of sympathy. 

Instead we have a classic example in how to botch damage control and crisis management.

The sooner you come clean the better, especially if there's 100% chance of getting caught because as we know all too well - the cover up is always worse than the crime. 

He lied again and again and again and again and again. 

But every lie created more inconsistencies, more holes in his story, more loose ends to pull.

Holes and loose ends that the media weren't going to overlook. Every time they discovered a new lie, considerable oxygen was pumped in to the story. 

Honestly, it is mind boggling that after Watergate anyone could follow the same playbook of Richard Nixon. The denials and stonewalling at every stage are the blueprint of what not to do when dealing with a scandal - especially if you did it.

If after the burglary, they threw some mid level guy under the bus and Nixon would have conceded knowledge of some rogue elements that he had nothing to do with, there's a good possibility it would have been nipped in the bud. 

But why do people lie and cover up? Because they think they can get away with it and for the most part they can. When it comes to scandals out there, we only know the absolute tip of the iceberg.

If there's a 1% chance you can get away with it all or a 99% chance of getting caught covering up and having to suffer the consequences, more often than not, people choose the former.

Is there anyone today who doesn't think that Facebook and Google have done whatever they want with our personal information? Given it to someone; sold it to someone else?

That story has gone cold but it's only a matter of time until it heats up again.

Is there anyone today who doesn't think most athletes are on drugs? If they didn't think that before Lance Armstrong, they do now.

The worst thing about scandals is that people in positions of power manipulate the trust that comes with that position- in order to facilitate the cover-up.

Do you think we would actually do bad stuff?

We're the ones you come to when you have problems.

This is what incompetent educators, crooked politicians, bent police and morally bankrupt clergy stand behind which makes the original crime even more horrific. 

Sometimes society is complicit in the cover-up, burying its head in the sand as the truth is too upsetting to hear.

We can point the finger at politicians, media and whomever else for allowing scandals to fester, but ultimately it's on us.