The hate crime that police believe actor Jussie Smollett orchestrated against himself earlier this month is the latest in a string of fabricated stories of racist incidents people have peddled since President Trump took office.
Writer Andy Ngo compiled a list of similar incidents since the election.
Days before Election Day, an African-American church in Mississippi was torched in an arson attack. The words “Vote Trump” were written on the building. A local police investigation determined a member of the church had staged the attack.
A Malden, Mass., man said in November 2016 two white men threatened to lynch him and told him it was “Trump country now.” The story was debunked by police.
Days after that election, an Asian female student at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis said she was verbally harassed by a white man who told her to go back to Asia. She said she fought him off, then was put in handcuffs by police officers who came to the scene. Police said they had no record of responding to such an incident.
That same month, a Muslim student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette claimed two white Trump supporters violently assaulted her, took her hijab off her head, and robbed her. The story was later deemed untrue.
[Related: Video of Ellen Page blaming Pence for attack on Jussie Smollett rises above 18M views]
In 2017, a female student at St. Olaf College in Minnesota reported finding a note on her car windshield that contained a threatening message. Police said later that she made up the story.
After an immigrant-owned business in Charlotte in April 2017, investigators found a note that stated “Trump is our nation builder for White America.” Police later arrested a black man named Curtis Flournoy.
That same year, a black male student at Kansas State University student said his car was vandalized with racist messages. The school canceled classes, and protests erupted on campus. The alleged victim, Dauntarius Williams, later admitted he vandalized his own car and staged the incident. He wasn’t charged with making a false report.
Last September, a black woman from Long Island, N.Y., said a Trump supporter verbally confronted her and she later found her car tire had been slashed and a note on the car that read “go home.” She later admitted to making up the story.
Following the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre in late October, someone vandalized a Brooklyn synagogue with Nazi slogans. The suspect was later identified as a gay black man who had worked with the city council on an anti-hate campaign.
In November, Goucher College found graffiti on campus of that contained Ku Klux Klan and Nazi marks, as well as the names of black students. A black student was eventually found to be responsible.
