Performance, Punishment, and Publicity: When Justice Becomes Theater

 

Performance, Punishment, and Publicity: When Justice Becomes Theater (And We’re All Just Background Extras)

By RICHIE D MOWREY for The Sassy Gazette
(The Gossip You Didn’t Know You Needed)

We’ve reached the final act—and spoiler alert: it’s less Law & Order and more community theater with a million-dollar PR budget.

From the corrupt corridors of the Chicago Police Department to the crash-and-burn spectacle that was Jussie Smollett, this whole saga has made one thing painfully clear:

Justice isn’t just blind. She’s got an agent, a ring light, and a script written in bad faith and worse intentions.

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The Spotlight Is a Weapon

Every system loves a spectacle. Because spectacle lets them look like they’re doing something without actually changing a damn thing.

Instead of fixing the rot in its ranks, the CPD found a headline to slap a Band-Aid on a bleeding reputation. Instead of holding institutions accountable, the media turned Jussie into ratings bait. And instead of reckoning with systemic injustice, the public got front-row seats to a perfectly packaged morality tale.

The curtain rose. The narrative was set. And justice? She was just another prop.

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America Loves a Villain—Especially a Convenient One

Jussie Smollett was the perfect fall guy. Not because he was innocent—but because he was useful.

He handed the right a “told you so” on a silver platter. He gave the left a reason to retreat. And for the Chicago Police Department? He became a human diversion from decades of unchecked violence, racism, and cover-ups.

They didn’t want to clean house. They wanted to make an example. Not of corruption. Not of abuse. But of embarrassment.

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The Justice System as Stage Show

The Smollett saga was never about accountability. It was about optics, control, and ego.

• Police leaked documents to the press like it was Oscar season.
• Prosecutors flexed harder than an influencer at Coachella.
• The judge got poetic. The cameras got rolling. And the public got played.

Meanwhile, the bodies of real victims piled up in police folders marked “unsolved” or worse—unbothered.

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The Cost of a Scripted Scandal

This story didn’t just waste taxpayer dollars. It wasted something more valuable—momentum.

Movements lost traction. Survivors lost visibility. And trust? Forget it. The damage wasn’t just to Jussie’s name—it was to the credibility of real claims, real people, and real pain.

The next time someone comes forward, there will be skepticism. And somewhere, a smirking cop or a smarmy talking head will whisper: “Remember Smollett?”

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Final Thought: The Credits Roll, But the System Repeats

Justice isn’t supposed to be a performance. But when institutions are more invested in winning the narrative than fixing what’s broken, the courtroom becomes a soundstage.

And we, the public, become unwilling extras in a show that never ends and never improves.

Jussie Smollett was wrong. The Chicago Police Department is worse. And America’s justice system? It’s giving off-Broadway flop with a corruption subplot.

We deserve more than lights, cameras, and scapegoats. We deserve truth—even when it’s not trending.

Until then, grab your popcorn. The next performance is already casting.