Trevor noah and jaboukie young-white run through the myriad ways jussie smollett's hate-crime story doesn't add up

Last month, _Empire_ actor Jussie Smollett "said he was attacked by racist Trump supporters who beat him up, tied a rope around his neck, and poured bleach on him," Trevor Noah

recapped on Tuesday's _Daily Show_. "But now police have found two Nigerian brothers who claim Jussie paid them to stage the attack. Now, the police searched their house and they

found bleach, they found masks, and they found rope, so this is like the shortest _CSI_ episode ever. ... I'm surprised they didn't also find a book called _Faking Hate Crimes for

Dummies_." Noah ran through more details with correspondent Jaboukie Young-White, who as a gay black actor like Smollett was both "disappointed" and also eager to try out for

the Lifetime movie, or maybe Smollett's spot on _Empire_. "We're still piecing together leaks from the Chicago Police Department and more reliable sources like TMZ, but you

couldn't have written a crazier plot," Young-White said. "I mean, Trump supporters who watch _Empire_?" He got serious about "gay panic" laws in 47 states that

allow men lighter sentences for beating or killing LGBTQ men by claiming they were hitting on them. "Imagine if women could use that defense?" he said. "There would be no men

left." (There's NSFW language.) Whether Smollett is lying or telling the truth, "right now the story just doesn't make sense," Noah told the audience between scenes.

"Like, why are two Nigerian guys walking around in Chicago's freezing weather and then shouting 'This is MAGA country'? That's a weird thing to shout as a Nigerian

person." Either way, "this is a home run" for President Trump, "because so many people jumped on board before they even waited to see what it was about," he said.

"We live in a world where people are too enthusiastic at jumping at stories that confirm their biases, instead of just pausing and going: What do I make of the story?" Peter Weber

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