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In Chicago we have a saying: We don’t want nobody nobody sent.

But Jussie Smollett isn’t a nobody, is he?

He’s a somebody. And I’ve just seen an Obama White House video — in which Smollett gets a big shoutout from then-President Barack Obama — to prove it.

So, if it please the court, I’d like to have this video marked as “Exhibit A.”

 

“Has everybody had a good time tonight?” Obama asked the audience at a 2016 White House event. “… Jussie Smollett!”

Smollett smiled and clapped, beaming with excitement. Who wouldn’t be beaming after performing for the president and the first lady?

It was obvious that he was having good time. Clearly, he was becoming somebody. A real Hollywood somebody, star of the TV show “Empire” with important connections.

Smollett became such a somebody that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office inexplicably cut him loose from criminal charges, dropping 16 grand jury counts against him for allegedly fabricating a racial hate crime and blaming it all on supporters of President Donald Trump.

Well, it’s almost inexplicable. Foxx did admit she had inappropriate contact with the Smollett family and with Tina Tchen, a top lawyer and former chief of staff for Michelle Obama.

Foxx said she recused herself from the case because of the questionable contacts. But in reality, she hadn’t.

And then she dropped the whole thing.

Hate crime? What hate crime?

Tuna sandwich? The one Smollett kept with him even after fighting those MAGA racists? What tuna sandwich?

What MAGA racists? Those body building brothers, the Osundairos? What Osundairos?

When Foxx mysteriously dropped all the charges, it smelled so badly that retired Illinois Appellate Judge Sheila O’Brien was compelled to petition the courts and ask for a special prosecutor.

O’Brien has asked Foxx to appear at a hearing Thursday before Judge LeRoy Martin Jr., chief of the Criminal Division.

It’s all so theatrical, like a courtroom drama turgid with Chicago Way politics. That’s why I’m offering this video to Judge Martin, if he wants it.

In February 2016, the Obama White House held a musical tribute to one of the great American artists in our history, the one and only Ray Charles.

Just type “White House tribute,” “Obama” and “Ray Charles” into a YouTube search and you’ll see.

Top entertainers performed that night. Big stars like Usher. So did Smollett, who was by no means a big star like the others, but somebody up there must have liked him.

It was a fantastic show. The president and the first lady were cool, singing and dancing and having fun. Finally, President Obama said the goodbyes.

If I were directing, I’d have had the White House press corps — which loved Obama and still carries a torch for him — sing a few songs of farewell too.

They’d do a great job singing that Celine Dion love song “My Heart Will Go On,” from Titanic.”

They sang that one to him for eight years, and most are still singing it to this day, with tears.

But look, ah, here’s the thing. Celine Dion is not Ray Charles. C’mon, man.

And on the night in question, in February 2016, as he was saying his farewells, President Obama had Ray Charles on his mind.

“Has everybody had a good time tonight?” Obama asks on the video. “Let’s say, ‘Thank you’ to all our outstanding performers!

“Yolanda Adams! Leon Bridges! Demi Lovato! Anthony Hamilton! The great Sam Moore! Usher! Brittany Howard! I want to make sure I’ve got everybody here … Andra Day! Can you give everybody a big round of applause for the band!”

But he’d skipped Smollett. And just then, Michelle Obama is standing next to her husband. She leans forward and whispers into his ear.

“The Band Perry! Jussie Smollett! Did I forget anybody? I got Sam Moore!”

You didn’t forget anybody, Mr. President. And you got the important name on the record.

What does this video prove, if anything?

Oh, I’m no lawyer. I’m not a former appellate judge seeking answers to a strange case. And I’m not a state’s attorney who’ll never be anyone’s wing man now.

But it is interesting. And it kinda, sorta answers the question: Where does Jussie Smollett’s clout come from?

Judge O’Brien wants to know that, too, among other things.

“She is our lawyer. We are her clients. We should be able to rely upon our lawyer’s word,” O’Brien wrote in her petition. “To find that Foxx’s clear statement of recusal was something other than a recusal would indicate that she was being less than truthful in her handling of the Smollett case and in her statements to the public.”

Less than truthful? That’s an understatement. Her pants are on fire.

Once word got out that Foxx had her private contacts with Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff and others, Foxx’s office kept saying she’d “recused” herself.

But when I asked Foxx if she’d really recused herself, her office said the state’s attorney had meant it only in “the colloquial” sense.

In other words: Taxpayers sure are stupid, aren’t they?

All this should be before Judge Martin on Thursday.

I hope he sees the video and notices the two excited people in the front row.

One was White House adviser Valerie Jarrett. And the other?

Tina Tchen, who would later contact Kim Foxx on Smollett’s behalf.

They’re smiling.

And they’re not nobodies.

They’re somebodies.

No further questions, your honor.

Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin — at www.wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/thechicagoway.

jskass@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @John_Kass

https://www.chicagotribune.com...-20190430-story.html

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The real laughable thing about all these sad events is Smollett and his supporters, accusations that all the rebuffs and disbelief he’s getting and receiving is account of racial bias, it’s racism he/they claim.  Racism?? I suggest that this excuse is far overused and account of that true racist acts and racism is being diminished.  

Something no one is talking about...the brothers are as guilty as Jussie and won't be brought to justice either. Will they be billed along with Jussie?

*****************************************

In the case with more twists than a YouTube tutorial, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, the two personal trainers implicated in the case of Empire star Jussie Smollett, have filed suit against Smollett’s representation for defamation, according to the Chicago Tribune.

According to their suit, the Osundairo brothers, who told investigators that Smollett paid them to attack him, say that Los Angeles-based attorney Mark Geragos and co-counsel Tina Glandian “doubled down” on their insistence that the brothers paid $3,500 for personal training by Smollett and attacked their client even after charges were dropped by Cook County prosecutors. Smollett, who “directed every aspect” of the attack, “wanted his employer and the public to notice and appreciate him as a successful black, openly gay actor,” the suit alleged.

The brothers say the comments made them “feel unsafe and alienated in their local Chicago community.” Geragos and Glandian, while portraying Smollett as a “wholly innocent victim,” continued to allege that he fell victim to a “criminally homophobic, racist and violent attack” led by the brothers, according to their suit.

Glandian, according to the suit which has been published by the Tribune, inferred that Smollett and Abimbola, who was dating a woman at the time, “engaged, at least briefly, in homosexual acts together” during an appearance on a podcast hosted by Adam Carolla. The suit further alleges that Glandian insinuated that the relationship had become romantic in nature, a theory bolstered by a night spent at Smollett’s apartment.

“Ms. Glandian’s globally broadcasted statements that Bola Osundairo is homosexual endangers him and the lives of his Nigerian family,” said the lawsuit. Glandian also alleged the brothers had helped her client secure an illegal “steroid-like supplement” in an April interview with the Tribune.

“It’s one thing he’s playing this character, now he’s hanging out with this openly gay man and he’s spent the night there,” Glandian said during her interview for the podcast episode released April 6. “So I think [Olabinjo] starts thinking to himself, you know, what’s really going on here?”

At a news conference Tuesday, attorney Gloria Schmidt told gathered media that the brothers, who did not attend, “told the truth.”

“They could have remained silent. But instead they told the truth to the police, and with their right hand in the air, they told the truth to the grand jury. We’re going to make sure that the lies and malice attacking our city, our Police Department and my two clients are met with truth and healing.”

From a statement prepared by the Osundairo brothers:


“These lies are destroying our character and our reputation in our personal and professional lives,” the statement said. “Those who know us personally know that we don’t have hate for anyone. … That is not who we are.”

According to the suit, the brothers have had a tough time finding work as a result of the case and the statements, which are the subject of the suit, though the suit does acknowledge that many of the statements pertinent to the case served no legal purpose.

Defamation lawsuits are typically difficult to win for plaintiffs, as it must be proved that statements were both false and harmful to the reputations of all parties bringing suit.

 

These lies are destroying our character and our reputation in our personal and professional lives,” the statement said. “Those who know us personally know that we don’t have hate for anyone. … That is not who we are.”

Isn't that funny. They agree to commit a crime by getting involved with a hoax crime that will be blamed on white Trump supporters, yet they don't hate anyone? That is not who they are? Sorry, but haters are exactly who you are.

Last edited by Jutu

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