tried to keep him from playing after he chose to kneel during the national anthem. The quarterback opted out of his contract with the 49ers in March of the same year and was not picked up later in free agency. Kaepernick began kneeling during the 2016 season to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Safety Eric Reid and several other NFL players eventually joined him. Reid, a former teammate of Kaepernick's, was also a member of the grievance Kaepernick filed. After several months of ongoing dialogue with representatives of the NFL, both Kaepernick and Reid withdrew their collusion cases against the National Football League. On February 15, both Geragos and co-counsel Ben Meiselas released a joint statement with the NFL, declaring the resolution of the matter was subject to a confidentiality agreement. Jussie Smollett – Geragos represented Smollett in the 2019 alleged false police report. On March 12, 2019, it was reported that Chicago prosecutors had dropped all 16 criminal charges against Empire star Jussie Smollett as part of a deferred prosecution agreement against him. As part of the conditions of the deal, Smollett did 16 hours of community service and forfeited his $10,000 bond to the city. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he wanted Jussie Smollett to cover the cost of the Chicago police department’s investigation, which amounted to $130,000. Smollett’s attorneys responded in a statement via NBC News that "Jussie has paid enough". Geragos and his firm also filed a motion to seal the case, which was granted by a judge. On April 23, 2019, Geragos was sued, along with Tina Glandian (another member of Smollett's legal team), under claims of defamation and false light by the Osundairo brothers (originally arrested in connection with an alleged attack on the actor). However, a defamatory quote the Osundairos attributed to Glandian and Geragos in their lawsuit was in fact, said by their own attorney, Gloria Schmidt. The Osundairo brothers also paraphrased statements they claimed Geragos said on the Reasonable Doubt podcast (which Geragos co-hosts with comic Adam Carolla), alleging Geragos dragged their reps through the mud by indicating the brothers had attacked Smollett, committed perjury and conspired to make false statements to clear their names. Geragos submitted transcripts of his podcast during the time of the criminal legal proceedings, noting he never said the brothers' names, nor did he say or indicate what they attributed to him. The case was