The Smollett case was likely planned to turn out like this. It was ridiculously over the top to begin with to get people angry about what he did, and then by letting him off the hook he was used as a way to drive a wedge between whites and blacks. They have prominent black people defending him to get blacks on his side and distrusting whites and whites angry that he got away with basically for framing white people in a hate crime.

This was planned and it is staged.