Nobody likes being taken in by a hoax. But SJWs especially seem to deny it as hard as they can when history doesn't line up with their 'right side of history'.
I remember the reactions to the Rolling Stone rape article hoax. It was much the same as here, with anyone thinking the original account sounded fishy were immediately branded as misogynists/rape apologists/probably rapists. As the evidence became too definitive to ignore, they held out hope that this horrible thing had actually happened, and attacked anyone glad that it didn't. And finally, when it was impossible to deny the truth any longer, they went straight to 'but that sort of thing happens all the time', 'the victim is still the woman who made up all those accusations, because she must have been traumatised by previous sexual assaults', 'it's still rape culture to not believe a victim even if it turns out they were lying, because believe all victims even the ones not telling the truth'.
As long as there's mental wiggle-room, expect ResetEra to defend Jussie Smollett and believe his accusations in the face of all evidence. Because their worldview demands that level of victimhood and oppression, always. And the dreaded 'but it started a conversation' and 'this didn't happen, and the last few race crimes didn't happen, but they all could have happened' narrative.
tl;dr - It's feels before reals.
