Mr. Johnson said, “I think this city is still owed an apology.”
“At the end of the day,” he added, “it’s Mr. Smollett who committed this hoax.”
[Read more about Jussie Smollett here.]
The State’s Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to the remarks.
Exoneration or no, for Mr. Smollett, who maintained his innocence, the outcome could hardly have been better. After the hearing where prosecutors announced their decision, he appeared outside the courthouse and read out loud a written statement without taking questions. He thanked his family, friends, and “the incredible people of Chicago and all over the country and the world who have prayed for me, who have supported me.”
“I want you to know that not for a moment was it in vain,” Mr. Smollett, wearing all black, said somberly. “I’ve been truthful and consistent on every single level since Day 1.”
“This has been an incredibly difficult time, honestly one of the worst of my entire life, but I am a man of faith and I’m a man that has knowledge of my history, and I would not bring my family, our lives or the movement through a fire like this,” he said.
Mr. Smollett, who is black, gay and an outspoken activist on social justice issues, had told the police that the attack happened in the early morning of Jan. 29. He said that two men taunted him with homophobic and racial slurs and yelled “This is MAGA country,” a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. The assailants, according to Mr. Smollett, tied a rope around his neck and poured a chemical substance on him. He was briefly treated at a hospital that day. Investigators initially treated the case as a possible hate crime, especially because a week before, a threatening letter was sent to Fox production offices in Chicago directed at Mr. Smollett.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/arts/television/jussie-smollett-charges-dropped.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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