“Humor can often be the most disarming thing and put people in a position where they’re questioning things that they might not have otherwise,” said Matt McLoughlin, a lanky man with a thick handlebar mustache and a tiny ponytail, as he and a few acquaintances settled at a table in the center of Ceres Cafe in the Board of Trade building. On the night of Wednesday, October 16, Ceres became ground zero (or perhaps one of several ground zeros) for an evening of drinking and alleged romantic indiscretions by Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson. He was fired by Mayor Lori Lightfoot on December 2 for allegedly lying about what he did that night.
I’d never been to Ceres before and the first round made clear what I’d been missing. A $10 whiskey-coke is really a tumbler of the spirit on the rocks, with a lukewarm can of the mixer on the side.
“He was gonna lose his job anyway,” David said. “Every superintendent gets fired for something.”
“I’m just out here drinking, hoping to find out the truth,” Dawn said. “I’m just a citizen trying to get an understanding. Why is sex misconduct? Why is shooting or racial profiling—why is that not misconduct? It is misconduct but you won’t lose your fucking gig behind it. I’m here because I want to support the mockery. I want to support the nonsense. Hey I’m about to get Eddie Johnson drunk—I hope the result is some head!”
