Who Knew a TV Star Could Be the Master of a Fictitious Attack?
Chicago’s drama didn’t stop at the stage – it hit the courthouse walls when Jussie Smollett, the once-swinging, guitar‑strumming hero of the hit series Empire, found himself in a courtroom fiasco that would see him convicted of staging his own “hate crime.”
The Tale — Or The Tall Tale?
- In January 2019, the actor claimed that two masked strangers ambushed him on a dark Chicago street, tossed a noose around his neck, poured chemicals, and shouted a mix of racial slurs, homophobic heckles, and enthusiastic Trump chants.
- Police arrested Smollett a month later – not after he was “attacked,” but when a teller noted the actor had paid two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, $3,500 to play along in what should have been a dramatic nightmare ~ the whole thing for the sake of a career boost.
- The brothers, told the jury, accepted the cash and staged the attack under the actor’s directions. Smollett, in court, contested everything, basically saying “I didn’t do that.”
Finger‑Poking and Drama
Special prosecutor Dan Webb called the story “ridiculous,” and said that Smollett’s conviction hinged on the jury finding him to have lied. “If the jury hadn’t found him to be dishonest, the case would have fizzled out,” Webb recalled.
The judge, James Linn, didn’t set a sentencing date yet, but queued the actor for a pre‑sentencing hearing on Jan. 27. With each felony count capped at three years in jail, prosecutors hinted that rather than a guillotine‑like fate, Smollett would likely get probation and community service.
Career‑Caps in the Spotlight
Prior to the legal drama, Jussie was pulling his entire showbiz steam. He had dropped the role of the soulful rap‑singer in the final, five‑year run of Empire, and the incident cemented a downturn in his screen appearances.
Legal Loopholes and Laughs
In the spring of 2019, the Cook County state attorney’s office surprisingly doused a 16‑count indictment against the actor after all, in a case that made the public and even the mayor, Rahm Emanuel, gasp. The settlement required Smollett to forfeit a $10,000 bond with no admission of guilt – a move many critics dubbed a “mistake that cost justice.”
Who Gave the Green Light?
The grand jury that followed, urged by special prosecutor Webb, resurrected the charges. The irony of a grand jury calling for justice while the public otherwised felt the case was a curtain call for fraud, is not easily dismissed.
Bottom Line
In a city known for its vibrant jazz and baked goods, this case turned the spotlight into a courtroom set. If you thought that complex storytelling was exclusive to television, the Jussie Smollett saga shows that drama can also break out of the studio and into a judge’s bench. Whether he ends up in a prison cell or on probation will remain a cliffhanger for the next chapter.
