These have been dark days for hate hoaxer Jussie Smollett, but he is certain that better times are ahead. His lead attorney, Nenye Uche, said Thursday: “We feel 100 percent confident that this case will be won on appeal. Unfortunately, that’s not the route we wanted but sometimes that’s the route you have to take to win, especially a case where we remain 100 percent confident in our client’s innocence.”

Uche did not explain how anyone could possibly still be convinced of Smollett’s innocence, but he didn’t have to. After years of establishment media propaganda about “systemic racism,” often echoed by the highest authorities, including Old Joe Biden himself, a certain percentage of Americans will believe Smollett was really the victim of a racist, anti-gay hate crime no matter what the evidence actually shows.

Uche continued: “He’s a human being, he’s disappointed — but I will tell you this: I am very proud of him, I’m very, very proud of him. He’s holding up very strong, he’s committed to clearing his name and he’s 100 percent confident that he’s going to get cleared by the appellate court.” Yet as the New York Post noted, “Prosecutors said Smollett paid the Osundairos [the two men who attacked him] $3,500 for the attack and planned out every aspect of the hoax, down to the specific homophobic and racial slurs he wanted the brothers to use and how hard they should throw their punches.”