By Yetunde Adeyeri
A federal judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the City of Chicago, which is seeking to recoup investigative costs from former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.
Judge Virginia M. Kendall rejected Smollett’s contention that he should not be made to pay $130,000 in police overtime costs, plus $260,000 in damages because he could not have foreseen how seriously the police would take his hate crime report. The judge also faulted Smollett’s attorneys for its “attempts to muddy the waters with irrelevant arguments.”
Smollett told the police on Jan. 29 that he had been assaulted on the street by two men who shouted racial and homophobic slurs, poured bleach on him, and shouted that this was “MAGA country.” The Chicago Police Department engaged in an intensive investigation, ultimately concluding that Smollett had staged the attack.
Smollett was indicted on 16 counts of filing a false police report, but those charges were later dismissed in a controversial move by the State’s Attorney’s Office. Smollett was written out of the last season of “Empire,” and has continued to maintain his innocence.
