Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 14

Jessica Tarlov Releases 'I Disagree,' Citing 2 Reversals on COVID and Jussie Smollett

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 14

Jessica Tarlov Releases 'I Disagree,' Citing 2 Reversals on COVID and Jussie Smollett

Q: After defending a high-profile celebrity hoax, what crucial evidence finally forces a media personality to confront their own hidden biases?

The turning point was the emergence of concrete investigative evidence showing Jussie Smollett’s account did not hold up. Tarlov said she initially defended him, but later evidence made clear that reaction had been shaped by bias rather than verified facts. That evidence included police findings that Smollett had staged the reported 2019 attack with two acquaintances. Public reporting at the time also pointed to physical evidence, surveillance video, and witness testimony that, according to Chicago police, did not support his innocence. Those details undercut the original hate-crime narrative and forced a reassessment. In Tarlov’s telling, the real lesson was not just that Smollett’s story unraveled, but that she had accepted it too quickly because it fit assumptions she was already inclined to believe. She uses the episode in her book as an example of “motivated reasoning” — the tendency to filter information through prior beliefs and ignore contrary facts. So the crucial evidence was the later body of police and investigative proof contradicting Smollett’s claim. What forced the deeper reckoning was that the facts exposed not only the hoax, but also the bias that had shaped her initial defense.

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 14

Jessica Tarlov says her new book "I Disagree" argues that better political debate starts with admitting when you were wrong and learning to engage across deep social divides.
Two episodes anchor that case: she writes that mask mandates lasted too long during COVID, and that her liberal bias led her to wrongly defend Jussie Smollett before his hate-crime story unraveled.
University of Southern California research cited in the book says challenges to strong political beliefs can activate brain regions tied to physical pain, helping explain why people reject contradictory facts.
Tarlov says that dynamic hardened the country into "2 Americas," with COVID-era fights over masks and authority becoming a model for broader culture-war conflicts over speech, identity and trust.
The release extends Tarlov's public role beyond Fox News' "The Five," framing the book as a guide to arguing without rupturing relationships in a polarized election season.

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Fox News2h ago

Jessica Tarlov Releases "I Disagree" Book on Navigating Political Divides

After defending a high-profile celebrity hoax, what crucial evidence finally forces a media personality to confront their own hidden biases?

What hidden psychological traps prevent us from admitting we are wrong, and can acknowledging them truly save our relationships?

How does a 2026 study showing economic benefits from mask mandates challenge the claim that pandemic restrictions went too far?

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1 total

Right100%

Fox News2h ago

Jessica Tarlov Releases "I Disagree" Book on Navigating Political Divides

Jessica Tarlov Releases 'I Disagree,' Citing 2 Reversals on COVID and Jussie Smollett

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