Chicago Mayor Criticizes Dropped Charges Against Jussie Smollett - What's Next For The Actor?

Source: People.com

As it was previously reported, the Chicago prosecution dropped all charges against Jussie Smollett for an undisclosed reason, a decision vehemently criticized by the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, the police commander, Ed Wodniki, as well as the Police Superintendent, Eddie Johnson.

Following the announcement that all charges were dropped against the actor –  who claimed to have been a victim of a hate crime – his lawyers stuck with their story, stating that Jussie was victimized twice, once by the media and once by the two masked men who supposedly attacked him.

The announcement of the dropped charges came a few weeks after he was indicted on 16 felony counts of filing a false police report with the police of Chicago. The 36-year-old was seen arriving at a Chicago courtroom around 10:30 am on Tuesday for an emergency hearing.

His attornies released a statement, saying that his record had been wiped clean, and they laid blame on the allegedly “corrupt” criminal justice system that accused him of faking a hate crime.

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However, as it was briefly noted at the beginning of the report, the mayor of Chicago, the police superintendent, and the commander, all came out afterward and said it was the wrong decision to drop charges against Jussie.

At a short news conference, Jussie said to reporters that he had been “truthful” from the very beginning, and he was absolutely the victim of a hate crime. He went on to say that it was easily one of the worst times of his life.

Earlier this month, a grand jury charged him on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false report. Even though many celebrities came out in support of Jussie after the charges were dropped, social media commenters have been far less forgiving.

One social media commenter suggested Jussie’s attornies were attempting to adjust the narrative so as to benefit Jussie; as if the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence, rather than for another undisclosed reason.

It isn’t clear as to why the DA chose to drop the charges, however, the police department commander, Ed Wodnicki, said it was like a “punch in the gut” that Smollett won’t be prosecuted. Rahm Emanuel and Eddie Johnson, the mayor of Chicago and the Police Superintendent, described it as the “whitewashing (of) justice.”