YOUR DAILY TREACHER: Jussie Smollett Is a Victim of Hollywood or Something.

Step 1 is to restore Jussie Smollett to his natural, rightful place as a victim. Today he’s aided in that effort by Scott Johnson, Michael O’Connell, and Chris Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter, who remind us that the real culprit is… Hollywood! No, seriously, the headline is “Jussie Smollett and the Pressure of Hollywood Fame.”

One question is whether the pressures and anxieties of modern fame played any role in Smollett’s seemingly inexplicable behavior. “One of the darkest corners of fame is that it becomes addictive,” says Donna Rockwell, a clinical psychologist who specializes in fame and celebrity, “and then you are so afraid of becoming a has-been or yesterday’s news that you might do something desperate…”

Hollywood exerts strange and unrelenting pressures; once released within a person, they can be difficult to contain.

Well, there ya go. Hollywood did it. Who can resist its strange and unrelenting pressures? Otherwise, Smollett’s actions would be “inexplicable.”

Or to put it another way, “Tomorrow, you’ll know I wasn’t kidding, and you’ll all think I’m crazy. But, look, I figure it this way: better to be king for a night, than schmuck for a lifetime.” Rupert Pupkin, call your office.