Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The Jussie Smollett Show Lives On
Jussie Smollett / Shutterstock.com
Jussie Smollett’s acting career may not have ended after all. No, he will not be appearing in the final season of Empire, the show whose cancellation is due at least in part to his misbehavior. And no, he has not been cast in any new productions coming to screens large or small. But, owing to a Friday ruling by a Cook County judge, the Jussie Smollett Reality Show, which was far more compelling and widely watched than Empire on its best day, and which came to an abrupt and bizarre conclusion with the dismissing of all charges against him, will continue.
Recall that the saga began last January when Smollett, who in the small hours of a frigid Chicago night was walking home after purchasing a sandwich, was set upon by two men, both wearing MAGA hats, who beat and poured noxious liquid on him, verbally assaulted him with racist and homophobic epithets, and, in a final gratuitous insult, placed a noose around his head.
Or so he claimed.
As anyone of common sense suspected from the start, the allegations were a fraud. The “attack,” as Chicago P.D. detectives proved, was staged with the help of two of Smollett’s associates. In February, a Cook County grand jury returned an indictment charging Smollett with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct. Despite abundant evidence of his dishonesty, the charges against Smollett were dropped on March 26, a disposition that judge Michael Toomin described in his ruling as one that “shocked officialdom as well as the community.”
It appeared for a while that Smollett would escape punishment for perpetrating so costly a hoax on the city of Chicago. Then entered former state appellate judge Sheila O’Brien, who filed a petition for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the matter. Judge Toomin has now granted that request, concluding his ruling thus: “Although disqualification of the duly elected State’s Attorney necessarily impacts constitutional concerns, the unprecedented irregularities identified in this case warrants the appointment of independent counsel to restore the public’s confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system.”
So maybe, just maybe, Jussie Smollett will get his just deserts after all. But it’s still Chicago, remember, a city with a long and inglorious history of corruption (some of which I explore in my most recent PJ Media column), so it’s hardly beyond all imaginings that hidden levers within the criminal justice machinery might be pulled to Smollett’s benefit, just as they were before. Call it the Chicago Way.
The scripts for the final episodes of the Jussie Smollett Reality Show have not yet been written, but the show must go on.
Published in General
The intersectional left is too twisted for me to figure them out. Just consider that Mr. Smollette (pr. smō-lét) would actually be better off if a couple of angry (and cold, so cold) white boys really had assaulted him as he claimed. That’s sick, but I suppose it could be called aspirational in some lefty way.
I read it was 20 below that night. Forget plausibility – was his story even possible? What’s the freezing point of Clorox?
Things may get more interesting for the residents of Chicago. The Second City Cop blog is reporting that the new Mayor, Lori Lightfoot, in a closed door meeting proposed laying off police officers, and firefighters. That proposal has been shelved, but another proposal to cut wages across the board by 2% for all police officers may move forward. I suppose morale isn’t low enough in the CPD for the mayor.
Residents of Chicago might want to consider Kevlar bathrobes when retrieving their Sunday paper from the driveway. It wouldn’t hurt to have your wife provide some covering fire if necessary as well.
Sadly, Denise McAllister, a former Ricochet editor, recently wrote on Twitter that Postmodernist values have now largely been internalized in our culture. Smollett thought he could use them to get a raise, but his incompetence ruined his attempt. (Though anyone who saw the craven Robin Roberts fawning interview can’t deny he is an excellent actor)
What the literal hell. The left always needs more, and it has to come from somewhere. I guess Lightbrain is thinking that cutting back on public order means her favored constituencies can pillage a little more.
They are a lot better at that when nobody is watching — and everybody is watching.
-20 without the wind chill. In Streeterville, there would have been wind chill.
Two guys were loitering around outside in arctic conditions carrying a noose and a bottle of bleach on the chance that they would run into a gay, black actor of note that they could jump?
Things can be a little slow in Streeterville at 2:00 AM on a Tuesday. You gotta get your entertainment where you can.
I suspect that if it hadn’t already been accomplished, when the announcement of the special prosecutor investigation was made, the shredders at the State’s Attorney’s Office kicked into high gear.
Currently CPD has been working without a contract for several years. They try to cut their pay and things will get very interesting.
Wasn’t everybody watching before?
The guys over at Second City Cop and CWB Chicago were. ABC 7 did a good job of covering it too.
Jussie just didn’t have game.