Ana Navarro defended leftist politicians who fell for actor Jussie Smollett’s hate crime hoax on a broadcast of “The View” Friday.
Smollett claimed to the police that he was physically assaulted in Chicago by two men shouting racist and homophobic insults in 2019. Many liberal politicians spoke up for Smollett and referred to the attack as a “lynching.” However, police later determined that Smollett and two staffers on “Empire” staged the attack. He was subsequently found guilty in court of five charges related to his false police report.
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“The View” co-host Sara Haines observed that liberal politicians immediately tweeted support for Smollett upon learning of his attack instead of seeking out the actual facts surrounding the incident. (RELATED: FLASHBACK: Dave Chappelle Roasts Jussie Smollett For Faking A Hate Crime)
“When you approach anything that happens,” Haines said, “you need to bring the information in, you need to respond, not react. And everyone across the boards reacted very quickly and impulsively on Twitter.”
Navarro interrupted Haines to defend those who supported Smollett.
“It’s hard when we’re living in a period where it wasn’t unimaginable that a black LGBTQ person could get beat up,” Navarro said.
“I saw yesterday a lot of reaction,” Navarro continued, “you know, on that point on Twitter, of people wanting to own the liberals who had reacted in support of Jussie Smollett. Well yesterday, also, Josh Duggar got convicted, found guilty of child pornography. And guess what, there are pictures all over, all online of him with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee.”
“It is not their fault that Josh Duggar was a pornographer,” Navarro said, “And they didn’t know. And it’s not, you know, Kamala Harris’ fault or Joe Biden’s fault or Cory Booker’s fault or anybody’s fault that their natural reaction was to empathize with somebody who we all at first thought was a victim of a hate crime.”
“It’s Twitter’s fault, anyway,” co-host Joy Behar said.
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin also spoke up for liberals who supported Smollett.
“We want victims of hate crimes and any crime to be believed,” Hostin said. “And so I think that, you know, in a sense, that was a good thing, that they came out and said, ‘We believe you.'”