ONE RULE FOR HIM
Jussie Smollett got A-list treatment in jail with private cells and no handcuffs just ‘because he’s an actor’, furious Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel says
ACTOR Jussie Smollett was treated like an A-lister after he was arrested following claims he faked a racist and homophobic attack to raise his profile, it's been reported.
The star's special treatment began way before prosecutors’ dropped his case and included a private jail cell, no handcuffs and a cushy 16 hours of community service.
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“This looks like because he’s an actor, a person of influence, he got treated differently than anybody else,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told ABC’s 'Good Morning America.'
Furious Emanuel - who has called the handling of the case a “whitewash of justice” - spoke out following the baffling decision to ditch the 16 charges faced by the star.
“At no point while in the 001st [Police] District, was Smollett handcuffed, placed in a cell or subjected to the media,” according to official reports obtained by public-safety watchdog CWBChicago.
Smollett was then “placed into an unmarked police vehicle, with tinted windows" for the ride from the police station to Cook County Jail."
“While in route, (a cop) offered Smollett breakfast, coffee or something to drink, which Smollett declined,” the official papers added.
The £50,000-per-episode Empire star had a different kind of order for the Chicago officers,
The shocking 'race attack' that never was
Smollett, who is black and openly gay, told police he was attacked while walking home around 2am on January 29.
He claimed two masked men – one wearing a red MAGA-style hat – shouted racist and homophobic slurs as they beat him, put a noose around his neck, and poured bleach on him.
The star claimed they yelled: "This is MAGA country", a reference to Donald Trump's 'Make America Great Again' campaign slogan.
It was later claimed Smollett had directed the men — who were brothers — to buy the noose at a hardware store and the hat and masks at a store in Uptown Chicago.
Police said the pair wore gloves during the staged attack, and did punch Smollett, but the scratches and bruises on Smollett’s face were most likely self-inflicted.
Cops at the time said the attack was a publicity stunt because the actor was upset about his pay on the hit show.
“At the request of Smollett,” a cop asked a Cook County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant at the jail, “if Smollett could be kept segregated and housed alone until his attendance in bond court.”
The lieutenant “stated he would facilitate (the cop’s) request” to keep him out of the general population, the document said.
Yesterday we told how actor did just 16 hours community service with a non-profit organisation before prosecutors dropped all charges against him.
His duties included stuffing envelopes, helping the group film its weekly broadcast and working with the music director and choir.
On Tuesday, First Assistant State's Attorney Joe Magats revealed he made the extraordinary decision to drop the charges because the actor has no criminal background.
He said he thought Smollett, 36, was guilty but that “based on the facts and circumstances of the case”, the decision was made not to pursue charges.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has now broken her silence to defend her office's decision to drop the charges against the actor.
She had earlier disqualified herself from the case for exchanging text messages with one of Smollett's relatives in the days after the actor told police he was attacked.
In a series of interviews, Foxx stood behind her assistant Magats' decision to let Smollett walk free on completing his short community service.
Smollett was first charged with one count of felony disorderly conduct by prosecutors then was hit with an additional 15 charges by a grand jury.
Each carried a recommended sentence of between one and three years behind bars but Foxx said it was unlikely he would have actually been sentenced to prison time.
"Right now, there's a lot of emotion. And I wholeheartedly believe that in our work we cannot be driven by emotions. We have to be driven by facts," she said.
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"For people who are in the weeds of this, we recognise that the likelihood that someone would get a prison sentence for a Class 4 felony is slim.
"No two cases are the same...this is not what it looks like on Law &; Order, right?" she told local radio station
"The fact that people pick and choose which cases are most important I think breaks my heart. This is not in anyway different that we've treated others."
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx exchanged a series of texts and phone calls with relative of Empire actor
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Jussie Smollett - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls decision to drop charges against Empire actor a 'whitewash of justice'