Some new items to keep you abreast of the story that will not die (and if it did, it would be over my dead body):
Kim Foxx is getting death threats
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has received death threats since her office dropped charges against Jussie Smollett in March. A detail that should surprise only the very new to earth: Many of these threats (in addition to other correspondence that doesn’t specifically threaten bodily harm) are racist.
The Sun-Times quotes an anonymous political consultant of Foxx’s, who says Foxx recently received three foreboding notes, all of which appeared to come from white nationalists. Foxx’s chief of staff Jennifer Ballard Croft said that threats have been forwarded to the state attorney’s Investigations Bureau and Executive Protection Unit.
The Sun-Times printed text from an email to Foxx that is racist but not physically threatening. “African Americans need to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for their own DAMN DECISIONS & STOP TRYING TO PLAY THE RACE CARD on every damn situation that arises,” it reads in part.
Smollett’s accused attacker brothers are suing for defamation, including over gay stuff
Meanwhile, CBS Chicago says that Smollett’s accused-attackers-turned-accomplices-but-also-maybe-his-victims-depending-on-what-you-believe-and-how-you-perceive-the-power-structure-at-hand Abel and Ola Osundairo are suing Smollett’s lawyer Mark Geragos, his firm and associate Tina Glandian for defamation.
Their suit, according to the site, reads: “Statements indicating Plaintiffs actually criminally battered Mr. Smollett without his consent are patently false and defamatory, as Mr. Smollett originated, planned, and orchestrated the attack.” Whiteface rears its head again, as the complaint also references Glandian’s comments on the Today show in March in which she hypothesized that Smollett did not recognize his “attackers” as black because they were wearing white makeup under their ski masks. The suit accuses Glandian of having “falsely submitted that Plaintiffs may have been wearing ‘whiteface’ while attacking Mr. Smollett – again stating Plaintiffs battered Mr. Smollett and adding the implication that this battery was a hate crime.”
Also referenced is Glandian’s appearance on the podcast Reasonable Doubt in which she allegedly insinuated that Ola Osundario and Smollett had sexual contact. While this at first blush is like come on, being called gay does not qualify as defamation, I’m not a lawyer but I damn well know the precedent, the lawsuit cites Osundario’s Nigerian heritage and that country’s strict laws against homosexuality, which in some instances is punishable by death. The suit says that his and his family are in danger as a result of Glandian’s claims. The suit also alleges that Geragos made false claims about the brothers trafficking steroids.
Jussie is having night terrors, according to a dubiously credible, wholly vague defensive essay written by his brother
In a rambling editorial published on BET.com that provides no new attack/crime details while repeatedly asking us to consider “What if Jussie is telling the truth?,” Smollett’s eldest brother JoJo claims that his brother is suffering in the wake of the attack that he wants us to believe happened. JoJo writes:
Jussie is as strong as iron, but following an attack like this, there is a normal and natural amount of post trauma that mostly anyone should expect to suffer. I have literally seen him violently awakening from night terrors, following the assault. Some of my siblings, as well as Jussie’s partner and closest friends have seen similar things.
While very few people are courageous enough to swim upstream and resist the popular conformity of the day, I still can’t believe how many people failed to ask the question: “What if Jussie is telling the truth?”
A lot of people didn’t even ask that question initially—they just believed that Smollett was telling the truth. Until they didn’t. And now we’re left with a junkyard of story parts that don’t add up and don’t make much sense, and a case that has been sealed at the request of Jussie Smollett so that those of us whose attention was wooed by Jussie’s display may have to go through the rest of our lives shortchanged. Thanks, Jussie! For anyone who’s been following along, JoJo’s suggestion that we just take his brother at his word is intellectually insulting. We don’t know much about what happened that night, but we certainly know better than that.