Jussie Smollett’s Sideshow Mocks Real Tragedies

Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on Mar 14, 2022

Smollett’s story fell apart after two of Smollett’s acquaintances, brothers Abi and Ola Osundairo, told police he had paid them $3,500 to carry out the fake attack. Unlike Smollett’s account, the brothers’ version was backed up by security camera videos.

Smollett lost his “Empire” role and in December was found guilty by a jury of five of six counts of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report.

“Mr. Smollett, I know that there is nothing that I will do here that will come close to the damage that you’ve already done to your own life,” Linn said. “You’ve turned your life upside down by your misconduct and your shenanigans.”

True enough. His shenanigans also took public attention and valuable resources away from real violent crime that continues to plague Chicago, among other cities.

Smollett’s sentencing occurred on the same day that Mayor Lori Lightfoot met with the Tribune Editorial Board to discuss, among other issues, the cost of violent crimes that have made recent headlines.

Among others, she remembered the death of Melissa Ortega, an 8-year-old girl fatally shot while walking with her mother in the Little Village community in what police described as a feud between rival gangs.

At one point, the mayor apologized and fought back tears as she remembered meeting with Little Village mothers whose children were killed by gang violence. Their tragedies reminded Lightfoot of her own family’s struggle with her older brother who, for a time, was “lost to the streets.”

No need to apologize, I said. I felt her pain. It’s heartbreaking for reporters who have to cover such tragedies year after year. Most don’t get nearly the attention of Smollett’s trumped-up case ironically because they occur so often. But that’s precisely why they should get our attention — and action.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)