Not content with escaping justice, Jussie Smollett on Tuesday proceeded to stick with his innocent-victim act.
Worse, his lawyer slammed the Chicago Police Department, which had uncovered his apparent hate-crime hoax — allegedly perpetrated in hopes of winning a raise.
In what Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel rightly called “a whitewash of justice,” the Cook County State’s Attorney Office dropped all 16 felony counts against the actor, claiming his forfeiture of a $10,000 bond and community service was enough.
The head of the Fraternal Order of Police has asked the federal Justice Department to investigate State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who’d lobbied CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson to hand the case to the FBI after herself being approached by Smollett’s camp.
Foxx later recused herself, bizarrely citing “potential questions of impartiality based upon familiarity with potential witnesses” in a case where the only witnesses were Smollett and the two associates who’ve confessed to carrying out the fake assault for a fee of $3,500. But her staff evidently knew what she wanted done.
Which leaves Smollett sticking to his absurd story, telling the press, “I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since Day One.” His posturing went on all the way to a vow to “continue to fight for the justice, equality and betterment of marginalized people everywhere.” And maybe help OJ track down the real killers, too?
Smollett’s 10-grand payment won’t remotely cover the resources the CPD spent on his case, including weeks of work by dozens of detectives — weeks where Chicago saw 20 murders and scores of shootings.
“Is there no decency in this man?” asked Emanuel, pointing to Smollett’s abuse of “hate-crime laws that are on the books to protect people who are minorities from violence” simply to “advance [his] career and financial reward.”
A furious Superintendent Johnson notes that Chicago “is still owed an apology.” Instead, Foxx’s office let him walk, so free of care that he’s offering the exact opposite of an apology.
Outrageous.
