Tag Archives: Copyright

In a stunning move, prosecutors dropped charges against Jussie Smollett following his arrest for allegedly staging his own hate crime attack. This move has left many wondering why, and others remain fiercely divided over his innocence or guilt. But this isn’t a case of “no hard feelings.” The city of Chicago aims to make Jussie pay a massive sum in police costs. Bill McCaffrey has the exhausting-sounding job of being spokesperson for the Chicago government’s legal department. He tells Entertainment Tonight that the city is seeking a whopping $130,000 from Jussie Smollett. That figure is ostensibly meant to compensate for wasted resources. “The city feels this is a reasonable and legally justifiable amount to collect,” McCaffrey explains. His statement notes that the money is intended “to help offset the cost of the investigation.” The Department of Law, City of Chicago sent a letter to Jussie. “In order to resolve the matter without further legal action,” the letter states. The message continues: “The City requires immediate payment of the $130,106.15 expended on overtime hours in the investigation of this matter.” That same letter contains a threat. If Jussie does not pay the sum within a period of just seven days, the Department of Law may prosecute him for making false statements to police. Jussie has maintained his innocence throughout this story, which began in late January. Controversial Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel as well as Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson feel otherwise. The two came forward to disparage the decision by prosecutors to drop charges against Jussie. Earlier in March, Jussie was indicted on 16 different felony accounts over his false statements. At one point, Jussie’s charges could have led to a lengthy prison sentence — though the city now says that prison time was unlikely anyway. Mayor Emanuel has spoken at length about how he believes that the dropped charges are a miscarriage of justice. “I’d like to remind everybody that a grand jury indicted this individual on only a piece of the evidence that police had collected,” Emanuel noted. “… This is a whitewash of justice,” he accused. “A grand jury could not have been clearer.” “Where is the accountability in the system?” Emanuel demanded to know. For the record, grand juries are notoriously willing to indict. That’s just how grand juries operate. “You cannot have,” he said. “Because of a person’s position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules apply to everybody else.” “Our officers did hard work day in and day out,” he claimed. Emanuel continued, saying that police were “working to unwind what actually happened that day.” He concluded: “The city saw its reputation dragged through the mud.” The outrage and the threatening letter demanding a six-figure payout are not all that Jussie is facing. In addition to hefty social fallout, both among his possibly-former castmates and the general public, Jussie has become a target. An Illinois legislator has expressed a desire to withhold state film tax credits from any production that employs Jussie. Regardless of whether you are confused, disappointed, or furious with Jussie, that is deeply abnormal. The idea of passing legislation in order to inconvenience one — one — actor isn’t just absurd. It’s kind of embarrassing. So, did Jussie stage his own alleged hate crime? The Chicago Police Department certainly said that he did, The FBI has yet to chime in with their own conclusions. Many have been hesitant to accept the police version of events because the Chicago Police Department is, specifically, very infamous. The amount that Jussie’s alleged lies may have cost them are a drop in the bucket beside the amount that the city coughs up each year in exessive force payouts. Chicago has paid hundreds of millions in just six years, but notably, Rahm Emanuel has never spoken this much about police misconduct. So people find it odd that he has the audacity to claim that Jussie is benefitting from a double standard. If Jussie really did fake his hate crime, he did more than waste resources — he cast unfair doubt upon future hate crimes, which happen with horrifying frequency. Many have trouble buying the prosecution’s claim that Jussie simply wasn’t worth the effort. It is believed that some degree of police misconduct may have been discovered, prompting the prosecution to drop the case rather than proceed. It is entirely possible that this entire story — from Jussie to the police to the prosecutors to the mayor — features zero good people. That is such a shame. View Slideshow: Jussie Smollett: This is How He Staged His Alleged Assault

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Jussie Smollett: City of Chicago Demands MASSIVE Reimbursement