Rapper Snoop Dogg trolled Jussie Smollett this week with a meme posted to his Instagram account over Smollett’s ongoing scandal in which he is accused of staging a hate crime hoax on himself.
The drama surrounding Smollett stems from a January 29 incident in which he claims that he was attacked in downtown Chicago late at night by two white men who recognized him from his TV show “Empire.” Smollett claimed that the two men called him racial and homophobic slurs, attacked him, put a noose around his neck, and poured bleach on him.
The police investigation into Smollett took a turn after the two suspects, Nigerian brothers, agreed to cooperate with investigators, telling them that Smollett orchestrated the fake hate crime.
Snoop Dogg posted a meme to his Instagram account this week mocking Smollett.
Smollett was charged on February 20 with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report, which carries a maximum of up to three years in prison. On March 7, a grand jury returned a 16-felony count indictment against Smollett over the incident.
A few weeks later, however, prosecutors dropped all charges against Smollett, saying, “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollet[t]’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his [$10,000] bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”
In August, “Cook County Judge Michael Toomin appointed former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb to the position to investigate the way the case was handled — specifically, why the 16 criminal charges against Smollett were dropped and to potentially reinstate the charges or even add additional charges against Smollett,” The Daily Wire reported.
“Webb gained prominence for his lead role during the Operation Greylord investigations into judicial corruption in Cook County,” Fox 32 reported. “He served as special counsel in the Iran-Contra affair and was previously appointed by Judge Toomin in the death of David Koschman.”
Toomin had ruled that a special prosecutor was needed because of the way that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx handled the case.
“What causes concerns is that she appointed him to an entity that had and has no legal existence. There is no office of acting state’s attorney,” Toomin said. “Here, the ship of the State ventured from its protected harbor without the guiding hand of its captain. There was no master on the bridge to guide the ship as it floundered through unchartered waters. The unprecedented irregularities identified in this case warrants the appointment of independent counsel to restore the public’s confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system.”
Toomin announced that the special prosecutor was not only going to look into Foxx’s behavior but also had the power to charge Smollett and could reinstate any criminal charges that were previously dropped.
“If reasonable ground exist to further prosecute Smollett, in the interest of justice the special prosecutor may take such action as may be appropriate to effectuate that result,” Toomin wrote. “In the event the investigation establishes reasonable grounds to believe that any other criminal offense was committed in the course of the Smollett matter, the special prosecutor may commence the prosecution of any crime as may be suspected.”
“Foxx had been in contact with a Smollett relative and was approached by former first lady Michelle Obama’s one-time chief of staff on behalf of Smollett’s family,” Fox 6 reported. “Foxx also publicly wondered if her being black has anything to do with the criticism she has received.”