Lori Lightfoot allegedly launched into a tirade after learning that the Chicago Park District had authorized the display of a Christopher Columbus statue during an Italian-American parade.
A recently filed lawsuit alleges that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot stopped a deal between the Chicago Park District and an Italian-American group.
According to The Hill, the Park District planned to allow the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans to display a statue of Christopher Columbus during the group’s annual Columbus Day Parade.
The request was approved while the groups were still trying to reach an accord on the permanent removal of the statue from the park.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans would keep the statue covered for most of the event; they would only unveil in the last 20 minutes of the parade.
Lightfoot’s reaction was allegedly explosive: reports suggest that the mayor launched into an expletive-filled and racially-charged tirade.
When Lightfoot learned of the plan, she purportedly “proceeded to berate and defame” the involved lawyers over a Zoom call.
“Where did you go to law school?” Lightfoot asked. “Did you even go to law school? Do you even have a law license?”
“You make some kind of secret agreement with Italians […] You are there stroking your dick over the Columbus statue, I am trying to keep Chicago police officers from being shot and you are trying to get them shot,” Lightfoot said before instructing the involved attorneys “not to do a f-cking with that statue without my approval.”
Lightfoot then allegedly ordered the lawyers to seize the statue to prevent it from being used in the parade—all while boasting about the size of her figurative penis.
“Get that f-cking statue back before tomorrow or I am going to have you fired,” Lightfoot said, according to court documents. “My dick is bigger than yours, and the Italians. I have the biggest dick in Chicago.”
The lawsuit, notes Fox News, was filed by Chicago’s former Park District deputy general counsel George Smyrniotis.
Smyrniotis says he only made the deal with the Italian-American group after the Chicago Park District’s former top lawyer, Michael Kelly, requested that the statue matter be settled “as soon as possible.”
Now, Smyrniotis claims that Lightfoot’s tirade adversely affected his ability to do his job.
Both Smyrniotis and Kelly are no longer employed by the Chicago Park District.
When prompted to provide remarks to Fox News, a Chicago Law Department spokesperson said that the city “has not yet been served with a complaint and will have no further comment as the matter is now in litigation.”
Meanwhile, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans has signaled its outrage, and implied that Lightfoot’s rant was racially charged and grossly insensitive.
Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, Committee President Ron Onesti said he is “literally outraged that someone in her position would ever use words like that to refer to any group of individuals.”
“When will it end with the disrespect?” Onesti asked.
Sources
Chicago mayor accused of making obscene remarks, berating lawyers: lawsuit
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