Oprah Winfrey is to interview former Empire actor Jussie Smollett in a TV Special which will be broadcast live on air on her OWN channel this Sunday evening at 8pm.
Smollett is the man who has been accused of staging a bogus attack on himself, which he claimed was carried out by two white men who beat and punched him, threw chemicals over him, and then put a noose around his neck.
When police officers turned up at his home 8 hours later, he was still wearing the noose.
Only that last sentence was true. He staged the whole thing himself, and, crucially, the two men who he used to stage it, were black, not white.
Chicago police quickly realized what a crock of shit Smollett's story was, and it was suggested that the actor had come up with the fiction to further his career, and even, some said, to stir up racial tension.
This is where Oprah comes in.
Oprah is an experienced exponent of getting to the heart of a problem, down to the 'real nitty-gritty', and her searching, yet empathetic interviewing style is one that people who have a story to tell, feel comfortable with. Like Lance Armstrong did.
Smollett needs to get everything off his chest, to clear the air, over what must have seemed to him, an easy way to get some publicity and attract some favorable attention to his flagging career.
Also, he needs treatment for his pathological dishonesty.
Winfrey has said that she will be asking searching questions that will dig deep into the psyche of the troubled actor, and that she hopes to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the two Nigerian black men who 'attacked' Smollett were, in fact, white, after all.
A studio audience has been selected to attend, and will whoop, holler, and hallelujah until Mr. Smollett starts to feel loved again, and has a lovely, warm glow inside his tummy.
