Defunct actor Jussie Smollett, a card-carrying member of the “progressive” resistance, now stands accused of fabricating the incident in which he claimed to have been attacked by two white men armed with bleach and a noose.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is not unlike many big-city police chiefs. Mr. Johnson has the “thankless task of trying to keep the public safe in a political environment that has deemed police the biggest threat to public safety,” writes Jason L. Riley in the WSJ.

At his press conference last week, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson could barely contain his anger at Mr. Smollett for wasting police resources and needlessly stoking racial tensions in a city that’s had more than its fair share in recent years.

Mr. Smollett “took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career,” he said. “Bogus police reports cause real harm. They do harm to every legitimate victim who’s in need of support by police and investigators as well as the citizens of this city.”

The superintendent also had some choice words for the press, who were taken in by this “publicity stunt” and seem eager to believe a progressive narrative at odds with reality. “I just wish that the families of gun violence in this city got this much attention,” said Mr. Johnson, later adding that “I only hope that the truth about what happened receives the same amount of attention that the hoax did.”

Journalists, the Left’s Unofficial Ministry of Misinformation

Journalists these days state matter-of-factly that there’s an epidemic in this country of trigger-happy cops gunning for black people. Anecdotes substitute for statistics and historical trends that offer perspective. Based largely on this slanted coverage, protesters have marched in the streets nationwide and professional athletes have refused to stand for the national anthem. What the empirical data actually show seems to be a secondary concern for reporters, if not for police officials trying to do their jobs.

Mr. Johnson said he’ll be praying for Mr. Smollett, but perhaps it’s Mr. Johnson and the people he’s trying to protect who need of our prayers.

Read more from Jason Riley here.

BREAKING: Jussie Smollett Arrested – FULL Chicago Police UPDATE News Conference