You knew that this was coming, didn't you?  When a member of a victim group, as the Ruling Class sees things, does something wrong, there always has to be an excuse, a reason to sympathize with the victimizer.  Barely a day after the black Chicago police superintendent and black assistant state's attorney laid out the overwhelming evidence that Jussie Smollett staged a fake hate crime for personal profit, The New York Daily News publishes an article with the title "Why I feel sorry for Jussie Smollett."

Mug shot.

The writer, a Catholic priest named Father Edward. L. Beck, has no sympathy for, and not even a mention of, the intended victims of Smollett's fraud: Trump-supporters and President Trump himself.  They are non-persons in his narrative, though he does adhere to the Party Line enunciated by Chicago's top cop, that the real victims are fellow members of the Official Victim Class: blacks and gays and other minorities.

But if pity is the feeling of sorrow and compassion caused by the suffering and misfortunes of others, then why should we feel it for Smollett?  He caused the suffering and misfortune, and potentially has put victims of real hate crimes at risk.

And near the end:

I feel sorry for the real victims of violence and hatred, some of whom may not now be believed because of Jussie's actions. 

In Fr. Beck's estimation, Smollett's unearned status as a member of a show business family may have victimized him.

The third of six children, many of whom are also in the entertainment industry, Smollett has been an actor for 30 years, beginning as a child starring in commercials and films. ...

Jussie Smollett has had more opportunities and recognition than most gay black men.  In fact, he's had more success than most men, period. ...

Unearned innate value is a countercultural truth and one not self-evident in the entertainment industry, where merit is measured by how famous you are or how much money you make.  Jussie wanted more money and more fame, just as he had been told he needed, but he chose the wrong way to get them.

My translation: Smollett's privilege led him astray.  His "unearned innate value" combined with his "being told" (not his embrace of the value) that "merit is measured by how famous you are or how much money you make" led the poor man astray.  It's society's fault, don'tcha know.  One of the most repulsive aspects of progressive ideology is its denial of agency to members of official victim groups.  They are always victims, and they never make a decision for which they bear moral responsibility.

This is just the opening round of attempts to explain away an apparent heinous, calculated crime, if an incompetently executed one.

I am fairly certain that Smollett's legal team is examining the possibilities to put society, and President Trump, of course, on trial, hoping for jury nullification from a Cook County jury or maybe a sentence to therapy or just probation.