Jussie Smollett’s PR team emailed a statement to media outlets Tuesday in response to the city of Chicago’s recent court filing in a lawsuit seeking more than $130,000 for reimbursement of investigative costs.
“Regardless of what is said by the city, every iota of information Jussie Smollett has stated has been fully corroborated by the police documents,” the statement said.
“Not documents from his PR or legal team but documents generated by the very people who continuously claim it as fact that he is guilty,” the statement continued. “But this requires people to look at the actual evidence which nobody seems to want to do.”
The statement didn’t say what evidence allegedly backs Jussie’s claim that masked men yelled racist and homophobic insults while pouring bleach on him, beating him, and tying a noose around his neck in sub-zero temperatures. Meanwhile, the city says GPS data, video and other evidence prove Jussie paid men to fake the attack.
On Monday, the city of Chicago filed in response to the actor’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit the city filed against him in April.
The city said that the Chicago Police Department incurred “commensurate costs” as a result of Jussie’s police report.
“The CPD investigation and commensurate costs were therefore the natural and foreseeable result of Defendant’s claim that he was the victim of a heinous hate crime,” the city’s filing reads.
A special prosecutor was named on Aug. 23 to investigate the alleged hoax.
