Mayor Lori Lightfoot Says Lawsuit 'Lacking In Merit' And Untrue

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called a lawsuit filed against her by a former employee of the Chicago Park District “wholly lacking in merit” and said in a statement on Friday that she has no animus against Italian Americans.

Lightfoot is accused of berating lawyers from the Park District on a Zoom call last year regarding allowing Italian Americans to display the statue of Christopher Columbus that was removed in 2020 during a parade.

The lawsuit maintains that Lightfoot used offensive language in the call in which she reportedly and repeatedly referred to male genitalia in a heated discussion with attorneys representing the park district.

In her statement on Friday, the mayor said she is aware of the lawsuit and said she felt compelled to say that the “deeply offensive and ridiculous" claims are untrue.

“I welcome the opportunity to prove that fact in court,” Lightfoot said in the statement. “Furthermore, to be clear, I never have and never will harbor any animus toward Italians or Italian Americans.”

The statement comes after former Park District general counsel George Smyrniotis filed the suit. The lawsuit states that the Park District made a deal with the Italian American group to display the Columbus statue during a Columbus Day parade.

Lightfoot had the statue removed in 2020 after it became the target of protesters and others who came into the downtown area following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. On the Zoom call with Park District attorneys, Lightfoot – according to the lawsuit – uses offensive language and accused the lawyers of making a “some sort of secret agreement” with Italians.

“What are you doing? You are out there measuring the size of your d---- with the Italians seeing who has the biggest d---, you are out there stroking your d---- over the Columbus statue,” Lightfoot is quoted as saying on the call, according to the lawsuit. “I am trying to keep Chicago Police officers from being shot and you are trying to get them shot. My d--- is bigger than yours and the Italians. I have the biggest d---- in Chicago.”