'Is Obama trying to pull a Jussie Smollett?' Chad Prather has questions about the discovery at the Obama Presidential Center

Chad Prather asked: What do you get when you cross the "deep-seated anchors of democratic politics" with "acts so random and possibly fictional that their specific motive should be called into question?"

"Uh, you get irony in the grimly humorous tradition of a Jussie Smollett or Bubba Wallace," Chad explained in this clip from "The Chad Prather Show." What exactly was Chad referring to? Well, a recent finding on the site of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois, caused quite a disruption. "What they found, folks, was a noose, a noose," Chad said.

"Was it a pazuzu-like stone idol filled with a demon spirit capable of possessing whoever looked into its eyes? No. Was it the body of Jimmy Hoffa, complete with signed proof that he was the charter member of the Clinton hit list? Not even that good," Chad joked.

The discovery caused construction on the $830 million building to stop immediately and ensured all staff and workers would get more anti-bias training.

The Obama Foundation also released a statement saying it notified authorities that "this shameless act of cowardice and hate is designed to get attention and divide us. Our priority is protecting the health and safety of our workforce."

The problem, Chad said, is that as of this recording, the details of this find haven't come out, and that's kind of a problem since news hoaxes are becoming more and more common all the time. Smollett and Wallace are probably the most famous ones, but a bunch of them are going.

Chad assessed that "maybe they found a noose on the site, or perhaps they didn't." He leaned toward probably they didn't, for a couple of reasons. "First of all," Chad said, "there are a lot of hoaxes or even just honest and dumb misunderstandings. Second of all, have you ever met any real racists?"

Video below.

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'Noose' found at Obama Presidential Center building site in Chicago — but some conservatives are skeptical: 'I’ll take 'hate crime hoaxes' for $3,500, Alex'

A "noose" was found at the Obama Presidential Center site in Chicago late last week, after which the outfit building the $830 million center immediately halted construction and said it's holding anti-bias training for staff and workers.

But some notable conservatives are skeptical about the origins of the "noose."

What are the details?

Lakeside Alliance, which is in charge of the Center's construction, announced the discovery of the noose — but the circumstances of the discovery weren’t clear, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The paper added that Chicago police said they were investigating the incident but didn’t release details.

"We are horrified that this would occur on our site and are offering a $100,000 reward to help find the individual or individuals responsible for this shameful act," a statement from Lakeside Alliance read, according to the New York Post.

Lakeside Alliance consists of four minority-owned firms that have a 51 percent equity stake in the construction management contract, the Sun-Times reported.

“The noose is more than a symbol of racism, it is a heart-stopping reminder of the violence and terror inflicted on Black Americans for centuries," Democrat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in regard to the reported incident, the Sun-Times said. "I condemn this act of hate in the strongest possible terms, and the state of Illinois will make all needed resources available to help catch the perpetrators.”

Democrat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the discovery “disturbing" and added that “racism and racist symbols have no place in Chicago, and those inciting it will be held responsible for this repulsive act,” the Sun-Times reported.

Hang on a sec

However, a number of prominent conservatives aren't so sure the "noose" is legit.

Matt Walsh sarcastically tweeted that it's "definitely a hate crime. I can't imagine any other reason why a rope would be on a construction site. Also, this is Chicago. It's not a place known for hate crime hoaxes."

\u201cDefinitely a hate crime. I can't imagine any other reason why a rope would be on a construction site. Also, this is Chicago. It's not a place known for hate crime hoaxes.\u201d
— Matt Walsh (@Matt Walsh) 1668139667

Walsh presumably referred to the Jussie Smollett hoax, in which the actor and singer staged a fake hate crime against himself, falsely claiming that supporters of then-President Donald Trump physically attacked him near his apartment in Chicago in the middle of the night in January 2019.

Smollett said the two men wearing ski masks confronted him as he was leaving a Subway restaurant around 2 a.m. in below freezing conditions and yelled "aren't you that f***ot 'Empire' n*****?" before beating him up, putting a rope around his neck, pouring bleach on him, and hollering, "This is MAGA country!" — a reference to Trump's red "Make America Great Again" hats.

But once a police investigation began, Smollett's story began to crumble. A jury last December found him guilty on five of six counts of felony disorderly conduct.

'I’ll take ‘hate crime hoaxes’ for $3,500, Alex'

Other notable conservatives agreed with Walsh:

"I’ll take ‘hate crime hoaxes’ for $3,500, Alex," Townhall’s Scott Morefield tweeted.
"I’m guessing this is #FakeNoose," filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza tweeted.
"Surreeeee," Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe tweeted.

Anything else?

The Obama Foundation had some words for the "noose" discovery as well. The Sun-Times reported that it called the incident “shameless," and that “the act of cowardice and hate is designed to get attention and divide us. Our priority is protecting the health and safety of our workforce.”

While the Obama Foundation said the "operations and construction of the Obama Presidential Center will be entirely funded by private donations," the former commander-in-chief appeared to offer a different spin on who's behind it all during last year's groundbreaking.

“It feels natural for Michelle and me to want to give back to Chicago, and to the South Side in particular. ... We will always be grateful for that, and the Obama Presidential Center is our way of repaying some of what this amazing city has given us, but we’re also building this center because we believe it can speak to the struggles of our time,” Obama said, the Sun-Times reported.

Noose found on Obama Presidential Center construction site youtu.be

Same old story?

Apart from the Jussie Smollett scandal, TheBlaze has reported time and time again about numerous other hate hoaxes in recent years. Here are apparent misunderstandings, shall we say, that involved supposed nooses:

In October 2021, a Connecticut school district superintendent railed against a noose found in a school restroom as a "breach" of the district's "values" — but it turns out a student attempting self-harm created it.
Also in 2021, triggered onlookers demanded that a "noose" be taken down at a Central Connecticut State University construction site — even though it was a steel cable loop attached to a crane.
In 2020, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace went ballistic over what he maintained was a noose in his Talladega Superspeedway garage — except the FBI concluded that it was a "garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose" and had been in the garage since October 2019, months and months before Wallace took over the stall.
Also in 2020, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was "disgusted by the recent discovery of a noose — the epitome of hatred and an evil icon of our nation's racist past — in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park." But the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force soon said it "was left over from a construction scaffold that was removed in the fall. The rope was used to hoist construction materials."
Oh, and in 2019 a "noose" found in the University of Michigan Medical School's hospital sparked a hate crime allegation — until it was discovered that an employee was practicing tying a fishing knot.

DEBUNKED: Jan 6th Noose! | Louder With Crowder

ESPN tweets that 'noose was found in Bubba Wallace's stall' last year, leaves out that 'garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose' wasn't hate crime or directed at him

ESPN has been called out as a misinformation merchant after posting a tweet Tuesday about last year's "noose" controversy involving black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace.

Here's the tweet:

Last year, a noose was found in Bubba Wallace's stall at Talladega Superspeedway. The next day, the NASCAR community stood with him in unity.\n\n"I was like, 'Holy s---, it's the whole garage.' ... That's when I lost it."pic.twitter.com/Zh5HWumagX
— ESPN (@ESPN) 1639517236

"Last year, a noose was found in Bubba Wallace's stall at Talladega Superspeedway," the tweet reads. "The next day, the NASCAR community stood with him in unity."

The tweet — which promotes an E60 "Fistful of Steel" documentary on Wallace — adds a quote from the driver featured in a documentary trailer also seen in the tweet: "I was like, 'Holy s***, it's the whole garage' ... That's when I lost it."

The trailer shows many NASCAR drivers pushing his car down the track in solidarity with him as well as Wallace's emotional reaction to the gesture by fellow drivers at the time.

What's the problem?

The language employed in the EPSN tweet isn't necessarily inaccurate. The FBI's statement about the incident refers to the object discovered in Wallace's stall a "noose" — and does so three times.

But that's not all the agency said, either.

"The FBI learned that garage number 4, where the noose was found, was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week," the agency said in a June 23, 2020 statement. "The investigation also revealed evidence, including authentic video confirmed by NASCAR, that the noose found in garage number 4 was in that garage as early as October 2019. Although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week."

In other words, the "noose" was in the garage well before Wallace raced at Talladega last year and wasn't meant for him. The FBI also "concluded that no federal crime was committed."

NASCAR said in a statement — found in ESPN's piece on last year's incident titled, "FBI says rope had been in Talladega garage since October; Bubba Wallace not victim of hate crime" — that "the garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose had been positioned there since as early as last fall."

.@NASCAR has released a photo of the garage door pull fashioned as a noose that was found in the No. 43 garage stall at Talladega on Sunday. https://abcn.ws/2YvCkco\u00a0pic.twitter.com/YxBaXfG8Jp
— Dan Linden (@Dan Linden) 1593102701

That's right: no hate crime against Wallace. But he still was angry about what he saw, even if it wasn't meant for him.

"It was a noose that, whether tied in 2019 or whatever, it was a noose," Wallace told CNN's Don Lemon at the time. "So, it wasn't directed at me, but somebody tied a noose, that's what I am saying."

What the ESPN tweet leaves out

Thing is, ESPN's tweet in question makes no mention of Wallace not being targeted in the incident, neither does it note that the "noose" didn't equate to a hate crime.

And ESPN has been dragged through the mire since the post went up. In fact, the responses to the tweet from the sports network have skyrocketed: Over 13,000 comments compared to just 2,400 likes as of Wednesday afternoon.

What have observers been saying?

Some Twitter users also caught the fact that ESPN's tweet left out important information, among them Donald Trump Jr., who told the sports network in part, "... you’re still pretending it was a hate crime to sow division? What’s next the ESPN True Hollywood story of the MAGA attack on Jussie Smollett?"

Others agreed:

"They literally still think it’s a hate crime," another commenter said.
Another user called the Wallace story "fake outrage" and asked "... why is this 'hate crime' story still being peddled?"
"According to @espn, @BubbaWallace was not the victim of a hate crime," another commenter noted.
"Hi @Twitter@TwitterSafety, can we please get @espn suspended for spreading misinformation?" another user asked. "That seems like a service y'all provide regularly. Thanks."

Fox News said ESPN did not immediately respond to its request for comment on its controversial tweet.

Superintendent rails against noose found in HS restroom as 'breach' of district's 'values.' Turns out student attempting self-harm created it.

A noose made out of shoestring was found in a Connecticut high school restroom earlier this month — and initially the district superintendent railed against what appeared to be the attitudes behind the creation of the noose, WVIT-TV reported.

"This is a very serious breach of the values of our community. Such behavior cannot and will not be tolerated," New Haven School District Superintendent Iline Tracey said in a message to the school community. "We will work with staff and students to understand what happened and to keep it from occurring again. We will take action to make sure students are safe, and all are respected."

Oops

Well, it turns out the noose found in the Nathan Hale School restroom on Oct. 1 was created by a student who attempted self harm, city spokesman Kyle Buda told WTNH-TV later that day, adding that the student in question was taken to a hospital.

Investigators said it was determined that the incident was not racially motivated, WVIT reported.

Far from the first faux pas

In addition, there have been numerous instances in which racism was assigned to various discovered objects that people inaccurately viewed as nooses.

In June, a loop at the end of a steel construction cable attached to a crane at Central Connecticut State University triggered a number of folks who saw a "noose" instead.

"Regardless of what someone else says about that, what I see, as a black man? That's a noose. Period," Ronald Davis, president of the New Britain NAACP, told WTIC-TV. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Take it down."

Other examples:

Last year numerous people — including then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — assumed they saw a noose at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. But the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force said it actually was left over from a construction scaffold.
A "noose" found in a University of Michigan hospital in 2019 sparked a hate crime allegation, and the office of Counseling and Workplace Resilience even was made available to those who experienced "distress" over the incident. But it turned out that an employee simply was practicing tying a fishing knot.
Far-left Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney in 2018 said then-President Donald Trump's "hateful rhetoric" was to blame for a black doll found hanging with a noose at a playground. Except it was placed there by two boys under 13 — one white, one black — who did it to scare people and who weren't aware of the hate-related imagery.
In 2015, a University of Delaware student reported finding three "nooses" hanging from a tree in front of a campus building one day after Black Lives Matter activists staged a protest. The school president said campus police were "investigating" the "hate crime" and that "we need to stand together against intolerance." However, it was determined that the ropes actually were left over from a previous campus activity involving paper lanterns.

When Race-Baiters Cry Wolf | Ep 275

Bubba Wallace Isn't the Only Victim of Racist Nooses!