Henry Romero/Reuters
The city of Chicago demanded Empire actor Jussie Smollet pay $130,000 for the cost of the probe into his allegedly false report claiming he was the victim of a hate crime in late January, The Chicago Sun-Times reports. In a letter to Smollett’s lawyers, the Chicago Corporation Counsel claimed the actor’s forfeited $10,000 bail was not enough to cover “total cost of the overtime the Chicago Police logged” as part of the investigation. Earlier Thursday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel reportedly announced plans to bill Smollett for the investigation after the actor’s disorderly conduct charges were dropped earlier this week. “The police are assembling the cost [of the investigation],” he told reporters Thursday, according to NBC New York. “[G]iven that he doesn’t feel any sense of contrition and remorse, my recommendation is when he writes the check, in the memo section he can put the word, I’m ‘accountable’ for the hoax.”
In response to Emanuel's remarks, Smollett’s legal team said the actor did not need to apologize. “It is the Mayor and the Police Chief who owe Jussie—owe him an apology—for dragging an innocent man’s character through the mud,” they wrote in a statement. “Jussie has paid enough.” Previously, Emanuel called the prosecutor’s office’s decision to drop Smollett’s 16 counts of disorderly conduct “a whitewash of justice.”