Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images
Throughout his press conference, the Chicago Mayor ripped into Jussie Smollett, here a few of the gems:
On the charges being dropped:
"This is a whitewash of justice. A grand jury could not have been clearer. "
“From top to bottom this is not on the level”
“Where is the accountability in the system? You cannot have, because of a person’s position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules applying to everybody else. It is wrong. Full stop.”
"After everybody saw – and I want to remind you, this is not the Superintendent’s word against his – a grand jury, a sliver of the evidence, and they came to a conclusion. As did the State’s Attorney’s office.”
“Our city’s reputation was dragged through the mud”
On the $10,000 that Smollett is paying out:
“doesn’t even come close to what the city spent in resources.”
On Jussie Smollett himself:
“At the end of the day, it’s Mr. Smollett that committed this false claim.”
"Is there no decency in this man?"
"You have a person using hate crime laws that are on the books to protect people who are minorities from violence, to then turn around and use those laws to advance your career and your financial reward?"
"Now this casts a shadow of whether they (real victims of hate crimes) are telling the truth and he did this all in the name of self-promotion"
"Again, at the end of the day, it's Mr. Smollett who committed this hoax. Period."
“This is a person, now, who has been let off scot-free, with no sense of accountability of the moral and ethical wrong of his actions.”
“Mr. Smollett is still saying that he is innocent, still running down the Chicago Police department. How dare him. How dare him."