Wesley Snipes plays the role of victim on 'Larry King'

Barring some miraculous last-minute legal reversal, Wesley Snipes is heading to jail tomorrow. It’s been a long, drawn-out fall from grace for the one-time box-office heavyweight. The man who once earned millions for kicking butt in the Blade movies was, in February of 2008, convicted by a Florida jury of three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file federal tax returns dating from 1999, 2000, and 2001. (He was acquitted of five, more serious charges). Now, Snipes is facing a maximum sentence of three years in a Pennsylvania jail. He’s been ordered to surrender on Thursday. And the saddest part of the whole soap opera is that the actor still doesn’t seem to get it.

In what CNN touted as his “last interview before prison,” Snipes appeared on last night’s Larry King Live. Looking calm (or as calm as a man heading to the pen for three years can) in a cream-colored turtleneck with his lawyer, Daniel R. Meachum, by his side, Snipes wasn’t apologetic or contrite. He was cool, defiant, and frankly a bit clueless, claiming that he was there “to set the record straight” and “to clear the air.” Of course, he only made the air murkier.

Delivering a rehearsed statement steeped in denial, Snipes maintained that he never evaded paying his taxes and that he wasn’t a tax protester. He was, he said, a victim of his shady accountants and an overzealous IRS, who he says are making a high-profile example out of him. In other words, his only sin is being famous. While that seems like a fine tactic going into a trial, it seems like an odd one for a guy now heading to prison. Snipes and his lawyer argued that the prosecutor and the jury was biased against him, mistaking him for the character he played in New Jack City. I think they have an overly sunny opinion of just how many people saw that movie. King, for one, didn’t seem to get Snipes’ reference to his character in the film, Nino Brown.

King, who’s headed into the sunset, didn’t seem to bring his A-game to interview. He let avenues of questioning just evaporate instead of following them up. He was more interested in the “get” than, you know, asking real questions. As someone who’s interviewed Snipes about his legal troubles, I know that he can be evasive, stubborn, and charming. But King never pushed him to admit anything or apologize — at least not very hard. He just let Snipes paint himself as either completely innocent or the unluckiest man on the planet: “I’m more upset and disappointed in the system,” he said. Meanwhile, Snipes — or at least a part of him — is convinced that there’s still a chance that he might not be going to jail. Apparently, the bad news just hasn’t sunk in yet. But this isn’t a Hollywood script with a final-act twist. Snipes is headed to jail. “We still have prayers out there, Larry. We still believe in miracles. So don’t send me up the river just yet.”

At the end of the unenlightening segment, King brought on Judge Joe Brown as a character witness for Snipes. And that’s when things got ugly, as Brown wasted no time playing the race card. For his part, Snipes just sat there, letting his lawyer and Brown do the nasty, bare-knuckle brawling for him while King seemed to lose control of the discussion with his celebrity guest. In the end, the interview didn’t do anyone any good. Not Snipes, not his lawyer, not Judge Joe Brown, and certainly not King. Let’s hope all of them are more honest with us (and themselves) when Snipes is coming out of jail than they were when he was heading in.

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