Both elected and public officials are being ridiculous and petty about the state of Illinois dropping all 16 charges against Jussie Smollett.
Earlier this year, the Empire actor alleged that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in the early hours of January 29 by two men. The Chicago Police Department later stated Smollett staged the attack with Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, two Nigerian-American brothers and acquaintances of the actor. The Osundairo brothers were eventually released from custody, and Smollett says he is innocent in it all.
It shouldn’t be hard to admit that the investigation into Smollett’s alleged false reports to the police over a hate crime he says he suffered was a circus from the jump. From the Chicago police chief holding press conferences with regular updates on the case to appearing on Good Morning America to make statements about Smollett’s case that had yet to be prosecuted, CPD has been doing the most. But when the District Attorney decided that there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute Smollett for any crimes and dropped the case, these officials took petty to new heights.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, though he has ignored the real needs of Chicago residents for years, is determined to make Jussie Smollett pay. He said, “This is a whitewash of justice. A grand jury could not have been clearer. At the end of the day, it’s Mr. Smollett who committed this hoax, period. If he wanted to clear his name, the way to do that was in a court of law so everyone could see the evidence…. I stand by the facts of what we produced. If they want to dispute those facts, then the place to do that is in court, not secrecy. I want to say one other thing. Mr. Smollett is still saying that he is innocent, still running down the Chicago police department. How dare him? How dare him?”
Then Trump (who needs to be investigated himself) went on a tangent, saying: “I think the case in Chicago is an absolute embarrassment to our country and I have asked that it be — that they look at it. Somebody has to at least take a very good hard look.” He also tweeted, “FBI & DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It is an embarrassment to our Nation!”
Most recently, a GOP Illinois representative Michael McAuliffe seems to want to make a name for himself by introducing a bill that would remove tax credits from projects that involve Smollett.
Well, since the GOP suddenly wants to punish Hollywood for hiring problematic folks by removing tax credits from those projects there are several folks who have been accused of way worse than wasting police officers’ time.
1) Johnny Depp
Depp’s ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, has accused him of being physically and verbally abusive. Though Depp denies this and has filed a defamation lawsuit against her after she wrote an op-ed about her experiences in The Washington Post, Heard says she has received death threats and was blacklisted in Hollywood after coming forward, only seeing a resurgence recently with her co-starring turn in Aquaman.
2) Steven Seagal
The actor allegedly threatened and sexually harassed women. Actresses Jenny McCarthy and Julianna Margulies are among his accusers. The latter says she was asked to come to a casting meeting at his hotel room when she was 23. When she got there, no casting director was there, just Seagal. “I saw his gun, which I had never seen a gun in real life. “[I got out] unscathed. I never was raped. And I never was harmed. And I don’t know how I got out of that hotel room. … I sorta screamed my way out,” she said.
3) Woody Allen
The director, writer and actor’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, accused him of molesting her when she was 7 years old. Allen denies this. “I am credible, and I am telling the truth, and I think it’s important that people realize that one victim, one accuser, matters. And that they are enough to change things,” Farrow told Gayle King in 2018. In light of the ‘MeToo’ movement, many boycotted Allen although, somehow, he had the gall to sue Amazon Studios for $68 million when the production company wanted to get out of its movie deal with him.
4) Bryan Singer
In 2017, Singer was accused of raping a 17-year-old boy who was afraid to come forward when it happened back in 2003. In 2014, Singer was the subject of multiple lawsuits that accused him of sexual assault, including drugging and raping actor Michael Egan. Just last month, he also was the subject of a report in The Atlantic that detailed the accounts of multiple men who said Singer sexually assaulted them when they were underage. Singer’s latest film, Bohemian Rhapsody, was bestowed lots of honors during awards season, including a Best Motion Picture – Drama win at the Golden Globes.
5) Mark Wahlberg
Wahlberg has been involved in multiple racist incidents and racially motivated assaults. When he was 15, he and his friends chased Black children and yelled, “Kill the n***er, kill the n***er,” while throwing rocks at them. The next day, he and a group followed children on a field trip and yelled racist things, again while throwing rocks. A civil suit was filed, and the case was settled. Two years later, he assaulted a Vietnamese man on the street, beating him with a wooden stick until he was unconscious and calling him a “Vietnam f***ing s**t.” Later that day, he punched another Vietnamese man. He reportedly told police, “You don’t have to let him identify me, I’ll tell you now that’s the motherf**ker whose head I split open,” and said statements about “gooks” and “slant-eyed gooks.” He was charged with attempted murder and pleaded guilty to assault. He was sentenced to two years but only spent 45 days in prison. Wahlberg attempted to be pardoned for his past crimes in 2006, but it was closed after controversy ensued. One of the victims at which he threw rocks and yelled racial slurs said, “a racist will always be a racist.”
6) Mel Gibson
Gibson’s comeback tour has been incredible to watch. After a string of anti-Semitic and racist rants, Gibson has been consistently working, playing a “cool dad” in none other than Mark Wahlberg’s 2017 movie Daddy’s Home Too. Birds of a feather, I guess.
7) T.J. Miller
Miller has been accused of sexual assault, reportedly punched a woman and has also been accused of sexual harassment and making abusive and transphobic comments. Miller continues to book gigs. And also….he was arrested for a fake bomb threat incident. Like, really?
Everyone, do better.
Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images
