Just when I find myself forgetting about the saga of former Empire star Jussie Smollett another thing occurs that makes me go “Oh. Right. This happened.”
CBS News reports that a Chicago judge has signed off on two search warrants ordering Google to turn over a year’s worth of data related to Smollett’s Gmail account as well as “any and all location data and information from the use of GoogleMapsTimeline.” A special prosecutor was appointed in June to look into why the charges against the Alien: Covenant and The Mighty Ducks actor were dropped. Oh yeah, he was in The Mighty Ducks.
If you were somehow unaware last January Smollett, who is both black and openly gay, alleged that a group of men approached him when he was going home to his apartment. According to him they called him multiple racist and homophobic slurs, poured bleach on him and put a noose around his neck. As police investigated the case they came to the conclusion that he staged the attack with the help of brothers Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osudairo. He was indicted on 16 felony charges and then somehow by the grace of God and Annalise Keating those same charges were dropped.
As you can imagine, both the police and white America were big mad about this. They demanded he pay the city $130k for overtime, filed court papers challenging the fitness of his lawyers and they even made a whole ass episode of Law and Order: SVU about the incident. What I’ve learned here is that if there is one thing white people can’t live with, it’s the legal system treating a rich black man exactly like a rich white man.
Smollett lost his job Empire last year and has basically lost any chance at a career, at least for the near future. Recently, over Christmas he donated $10,000 along with toys and clothes to the Flint KIDS program. He seems to be moving on from the whole endeavor, I really hope the poor white souls in Chicago can do the same.