TAKING SIDES

Al Sharpton Defends Prosecutor Kim Foxx in Jussie Smollett Case, Blasts Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

“There is a marked difference between how they reacted to this and how they reacted to the Laquan McDonald case.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton is defending Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx against a barrage of criticism for dropping charges against actor Jussie Smollett. Foxx, Cook County State’s Attorney, said she didn’t think prosecuting the case was worth the money. “My office believed the likelihood of securing a conviction was not certain,” Foxx wrote in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune. At an event in Chicago on Saturday, Sharpton criticized Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and accused him of hypocrisy, The Chicago Tribune reports. Sharpton said, “There is a marked difference between how they reacted to this and how they reacted to the Laquan McDonald case.” Sharpton said there was no outrage when video showing a white police officer fatally shooting McDonald, a black teenager, was withheld. A spokesman for Emanuel said the remark was not “worthy of a response.”

REASONING

A Conviction for Jussie Smollett ‘Was Not Certain’

Barbie Latza Nadeau