Did Jussie Smollett receive special treatment from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office?
Criminal defense attorney Steven Greenberg breaks down Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's decision to drop all charges against Jussie Smollett.
Lori Loughlin and Jussie Smollett may have been scorned by much of Hollywood after their respective criminal allegations, but they have at least one star's sympathy: Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman.
"[It was] a crime that didn't really have a victim and got blown way out proportion," Chapman told "The Domenick Nati Show" this week of Smollett, who was accused of filing a false police report about a hate crime attack.
"The criminal justice system ... They love to pick on celebrities," Chapman said. "[Smollett] walked away with a slap on the hands and I'm sure if they had enough solid concrete evidence they'd have prosecuted him. But they didn't."
LORI LOUGHLIN WON'T SPEAK ABOUT COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDAL
"Anybody else they'd have said, 'False police report? $25 fine,' but they blew this up across the country," he added, saying the media picks on stars to end their careers and improve their own ratings and click rates.
"Murderers get out for less. Sexual assault of a child gets out for less. What a crock of crap that was," he griped. "Any kind of celebrity, they're going to pay double or triple than a normal non-celebrity."
CAN JUSSIE SMOLLETT MAKE A COMEBACK? CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXPERTS WEIGH IN
When asked about Smollett's police report, in which he said he was attacked by masked men saying he was in "MAGA country," Chapman said, "Anything [the media] can get against President Trump, they're gonna use. I feel so sorry for the guy. And if he made that stuff up and did all that, then you know, he's already said he was sorry and already paid for it in quadruple. Waste of time to even complain about it."
RAHM EMANUEL BLAMES DONALD TRUMP FOR JUSSIE SMOLLETT CASE, TELLS PRESIDENT TO 'SIT ON THE SIDELINES'
As for Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, who were accused of using $500,000 bribes to get daughters Isabella and Olivia Jade into USC on the crew team — despite the girls not being rowers — Chapman said, "Who would have ever known that's illegal? That if you pay extra for your kid, because you may have extra ... Whoever went after [celebrities], I'd like to see where their kids are at [in college]. A judge's kid, a prosecutor's kid ... I'm sure there were some kind of favors [exchanged]."
JIM CARREY SLAMS LORI LOUGHLIN, FELICITY HUFFMAN FOR ALLEGED COLLEGE SCAMS
"Bonds on celebrities are outrageous," he added. "You get a regular person who's not a celebrity, they walk away ... These ladies allegedly paid a little extra for their kids? No one was hurt, there were no victims. Judges want to get in the news ... They someday want to run for another office. The motivation behind it is not justice. The motivation behind that kind of stuff is personal gain. Just like minorities are treated different from non-minorities: You get a white boy arrested with a quarter bag of pot and he's charged with minor possession. You get a black guy arrested and he's charged with possession, intent to sell — it's not a fair system."
All charges were dropped against Smollett, though prosecutors said the "Empire" star was not exonerated of the 16 felony charges against him. He forfeited his $10,000 bond, though Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he may sue the actor for the $130,000 spent to investigate his allegedly false police report.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Loughlin and Giannulli were each arrested and released on $1 million bonds. They're due in court in Boston on Wednesday.
Chapman added that he supports additional border security due to drugs being imported from Mexico and that he believes Donald Trump is "doing a bang-up job" as president — but would not say whether or not he voted for him.
Trending
